16 Nov 2020

Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security has started an exercise of demarcating the country into agricultural production zones to achieve comparative advantage on certain commodities that have potential to provide food self-sufficiency, food security and export-led commodities.

Minister Karabo Gare said this when briefing the media about the agricultural sector development initiatives post COVID-19, on Btv Sunday afternoon.

He said the response plan identified alternative sources of agricultural commodities, which Botswana could import to augment local food production.

“Importation of food is supposed to be an interim measure as the ultimate goal is to grow local production to levels that will satisfy local demand and also allow for exports. 

To maximise the value of the local agricultural sector and employment creation, priority will be placed on the exportation of value added agricultural products as opposed to exporting raw or core products,” he added.

Mr Gare said the ministry had advanced the preparation of a new policy to address challenges and emerging trends in agricultural development. 

He said the policy addressed issues of food security, food self-reliance, food sufficiency, market creation and investment in agriculture. 

He said the policy was earmarked to be in place in the 2021/22 financial year.

He said the ministry had prepared a national investment plan through robust stakeholder consultation, adding that government was at a level of sharing the consolidated plan with the same stakeholders to check for alignment to the proposed strategic thrusts prior to implementation.

He said in an effort to exploit the value chain in agriculture, the ministry was geared towards creating industries around various sub-sectors such as beef, small stock, poultry, piggery, crops, and aquaculture.

Mr Gare said there was need to facilitate the agricultural processing industry and that had been catered for under the economic recovery and transformation plan, particularly in dairy, grain processing, animal feeds, seed and fertilizers.

He said research-informed decision-making, advice   policies and facilitate direction of economic growth.

“To transform the economy through agriculture, the ministry has created a National Institute for Research and Development (NARDI, which will do research in the diverse agricultural disciplines to inform the sector of streams to follow in developing agriculture in the country,” he said. Ends