06 Jul 2021

  Sustainable agricultural projects can improve food security in Botswana.

When touring agricultural projects in the Ngamiland District on Monday, the Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Ms Beauty Manake, encouraged farmers to utilise services offered by organisations such as National Development Bank (NDB), Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC) and Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) to expand their businesses.

She urged them to focus on food production and participate in all stages of the agriculture value chain such as processing, packaging and distribution.

Government, she said, aimed at empowering farmers to help them produce sufficient food.

Agriculture remained critical in the growth of the economy especially during trying times of COVID-19 pandemic, hence government ensuring businesses remained afloat, she said.

The assistant minister was impressed that some agricultural projects had a lot of potential to grow and wished they could be assisted financially to expand.

Financial institutions such as CEDA and NDB were also urged to take their services to the farming community. 

“You should be seen facilitating assistance targeting those in production and stop concentrating on clients coming to apply for services for the first time because we believe that those in production; can be exemplary to aspiring farmers,” she added.

Sesame Farms, a horticulture project situated at Koromo area 20km from Maun, which currently specializes in tomato production also impressed the assistant minister.

The project is owned by a couple, Mr Noseko and Mrs Janet Keemetsekgosi who were financed by CEDA in 2015 and completed loan repayment in 2019.

They also benefited from ISPAAD assistance to fence their 12 hectare plot, but they were ploughing less than two hectares due to limited resources.

The couple runs a successful horticulture project, which boasts a healthy tomato crop under a shade net and they source water from Thamalakane River using a generator, which they said was expensive.

Meanwhile, the assistant minister advised the couple to think beyond and consider applying for financial assistance at CEDA again to expand their project which proved to be viable. 

Ms Manake advised them to also consider other plant varieties such as strawberries, saying they could also process them to produce jam.

Mr Keemetsekgosi explained that the project was thriving through the support from the local market, adding that they produce one tonne a day. 

Their intention, he said was to diversify their products as they had been ploughing lettuce, green pepper and tomatoes but they were limited by resources.

Efforts were made to apply for Industry Support Facility (ISF) Fund at NDB to cushion them from the effects of COVID 19 but were still awaiting response.

Mr Keemetsekgosi also told the assistant minister and her entourage that Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) also played a key role in improving their production.

The couple was amongst farmers who benefited from the climate smart horticulture demonstration project implemented by OKACOM in collaboration with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security aimed to improve food security.

The project focused on enhancing horticultural production in Maun/Okavango through climate-smart practices and linking horticultural production with the upmarket tourism value chain and other local markets.

For his part, Maun CEDA branch manager, Mr Edward Magosi confirmed that the couple was one of their good customers, adding that they deserved assistance. 

 

He promised the assistant minister that they would go to the drawing board and see how best they could assist them to expand their business.  ENDS