18 Aug 2020

Agro-tourism provides farmers with an opportunity to diversify their product and participate in the tourism industry, the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Phildah Kereng has said.

She said in an interview on August 17 that there was need for farmers to embrace the idea of agro tourism at their farms. 

Minister Kereng said embracing agro tourism would attract tourists to the southern parts of the country. 

 “Not all tourists want to go to the Okavango Delta, what happens when they have seen all the animals?” she asked. 

Therefore, she said tourists were also interested in experiencing  culture, hence encouraging farmers to pursue tourists attracting ideas such as building hostels and conference centres at their farms. 

“We want to diversify the farming product, not all (tourists) want to see the elephants,” Minister Kereng said. 

She pointed out that there was an opportunity at farms for Batswana to showcase their culture, food, music and storytelling, among other things. 

Ms Kereng said the idea of agro tourism was not farfetched because Batswana were passionate about farming. 

 “We are just coming to add value to what Batswana like most. Batswana are passionate about farming,” she emphasised. 

The minister said agro tourism was part of the government’s plan of growing the economy. 

“We want to grow the economy. We want our farmers to add more value to what they have been doing,” Ms Kereng said. 

She also pointed out that her ministry was interested in promoting optimal utilisation of farm land. 

Further, she said her ministry was working on guidelines to promote game farming to attract tourists to other parts of the country.  ends