15 Dec 2020

Sub-leasing and sub-division of ploughing fields is allowed under the revised ISPAAD guidelines through an organised structure to curb irregularities which were experienced in the past.

Delivering a statement in Parliament, the Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security Ms Beauty Manake said farm inputs in the form of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and draught power were still prescribed under the revised guidelines during the transitioning of ISPAAD.

She said the ministry encouraged sub-divisions to maximise agricultural land utilisation to ensure food sufficiency.

The assistant minister said the government would through ISPAAD re-engineer and re-align ploughing fields and avail a database for leasing of agricultural land from Batswana who were not yet in production. She said this would enable those who were ready to produce to access it for productivity purposes.

Ms Manake indicated that the recent pronounced guidelines were meant to efficiently utilise the limited financial resources during the COVID-19 pandemic period, hence the reduction from five hectares to four  hectares.

The guidelines, she said were also making accessibility of ISPPAD horticulture subsidy easier than it was before to increase vegetable production under protection to avert climate change effects.

The subsidy will be administrated by CEDA while the application guidelines are soon to be completed.

In order to manage and control the subleasing of the fields in the 2020/2021 ploughing season, Ms Manake noted that the ministry had designed a subleasing form in an affidavit format which could be administered by all commissioners of oaths.

“The form is  to be accompanied by a ploughing field  certificate, to prevent amongst others practice  of multiple sub-leasing  of the  same  piece of land which has been picked up during  the monitoring and evaluation of the programme,” she said.

Ms Manake noted that a communication was  sent  on November 18, to all offices  in the ministry across  the country guiding on how the subleasing and subdivisions should be carried out and to also clarify the use of land under the transitioning guidelines for Batswana not to miss out on benefiting from ISPAAD.

The Assistant  Minister was making a statement in response to an urgent motion from the Sefhare-Ramokgonami Dr Kesitegile  Gobotswang which requested Parliament to reserve as a matter of urgency the recently announced guidelines for the ISPAAD assistant package for the current ploughing season 2020/2021.

It was indicated during Dr Gobotswang’s submission that the sub-leasing and subdivisions were not allowed under the new ISPAAD guidelines. ENDS