16 Nov 2020

Department of Agricultural Research recently donated dairy goats to Tsabong Unified Senior Secondary School to support Ministry of Basic Education to implement its five-year Educational Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP).

Speaking during the occasion to handover the goats, the department’s acting director, Dr Olaotswe Kgosikoma said the donation would serve as a dairy farm teaching model to the pupils and aspiring dairy farmers in the district. 

The development, he said, would go a long way in imparting dairy farming knowledge, which would in turn help local farmers to meet local demand for milk. 

He said the country was faced with shortage of locally produced milk as it needed 65 million litres per annum, but local dairy farmers could only produce 12 per cent.  

To close the gap, he said the department had embarked on a research to determine the type of dairy breed that was suitable to Botswana’s climatic conditions and the Saanen goat proved to be adaptable. 

Dr Kgosikoma lamented that the uptake of the department’s research outputs by farmers was low, highlighting that it was critical for farmers take up the research outputs and technology to drive the nation towards improved food security and reduce Botswana’s import bill.

He said the department donated five Saanen dairy goats, a buck and a fodder field, where Napier grass and lablab were grown as the goats needed to be fed adequately to produce the required milk. 

He encouraged farmers to make use of dairy research experts who were available to assist.

Furthermore, he encouraged pupils to make use of the opportunities presented to them by the ESSP. 

He said the strategy embraced vocational education and practical subjects to empower pupils, who were not academically gifted. 

This, he said, would help them create job opportunities for themselves and their peers. 

For his part, Tsabong Senior Secondary School head, Mr Siamisang Mokgolodi appreciated the donation, which he said would go a long way in assisting the school to implement the newly improved education syllabus in 2021. He said the donation would facilitate implementation of ESSP, as pupils would learn hands-on and practice rather than dwelling theory work only. 

The five-year strategic plan, he said, was designed to comprehensively and fundamentally transform education from elementary to tertiary level so as to transform Botswana from a resource-based to a skills-based society. 

Kgalagadi District acting agricultural coordinator, Mr Bornwell Mabechu said the donation was done after the school lodged a request for the goats in January 2020. 

He said the department saw the need to facilitate them as the development was in line with government’s economic diversification drive and inclusive approach. Tsabong South councillor, Mr John Lentshikang appreciated the donation, which he said would impart the much needed knowledge to the students from a tender age. 

He said the development would assist in improving milk production in the country as dairy farmers in the Kgalagadi District would also benefit from the donation. 

He said one of the lessons drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic was that Batswana were capable of producing for themselves. 

Further, Mr Lentshikang encouraged Department of Agricultural Research to conduct more research in the Kgalagadi District, adding that the district was endowed with natural resources and indigenous knowledge. Ends