02 Nov 2021

Banyana Farms will undergo infrastructural development, a facelift that is geared towards making it a profit-driven entity.

Speaking during President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s kgotla meeting at Bray on Friday, Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Ms Beauty Manake said the farm, which was allocated to the community for agricultural purposes, had been underutilised due to resource constraints faced by the community.

She said the  Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security had allocated various land holdings to communities nationwide for agricultural purposes, but they were underutilised, as such government sought to develop them as per their prescribed land uses.

Ms Manake noted that Banyana Farms plot, which measures 4093.95 hectares, was assessed for profitability and development plans were made in 2015 to transform the land. 

The plot was initially earmarked to be run by the Bray community trust, but a trust had not been formed and the farm was instead run by the district development committee.

Ms Manake said the ministry continued to honour the farm lease agreement to Kgalagadi Land Board through a payment of P 5 827.19 sum per annum. 

She said profitability assessments were carried out in the farm and their outcomes reflected great potential of the farm owing to the fertile soil and the good range resources, which would ideally suit small stock production.

She added that research was carried out in 2015, where they noticed that small stock would do well compared to cattle rearing.

Therefore, Ms Manake told Bray residents that the ministry had taken a decision to maintain the farm fence, revamp the paddocks inside the farm, dig a borehole and equip it, install a water reservoir  and reticulate water to the kraals. 

The farm will be registered as a corporation under the name Agricultural Management Association and will be sorely run as a business entity, she explained.

Thus, she called for the community to support and cooperate with the Ministry  of Agricultural Development and Food Security officials as they had started the project afresh, where they roped in various stakeholders such as Agri Business, Local Enterprise Authority, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency, and Department of Animal Production, who would be all involved to ensure successful running of the new entity.

The farm operations, Ms Manake said, would be run as a business and would be different when compared to other government farms as it would be run through the implementation of a designed business model targeted at producing quality stock to supply the Tsabong multispecies abattoir and export its products. 

Furthermore, she noted that the product portfolio of the farm would be diversified as and when the need arose to maximise the potential of the farm and accrue more benefits.

On other issues, the assistant minister noted that government was in the process of revamping beef industry to ensure that farmers gained more returns and had introduced a bouquet of reforms to boost the farmers.

Government opened borders for live cattle export while the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) was open to offer farmers a variety of choices, where they could sell their livestock. 

This development, she said, was enjoyed by both subsistence and commercial farmers.

The assistant minister was responding to questions raised by some Bray residents about lack of land for agricultural purposes and a non-functional Banyana Farms plot, which was allocated to the community.

Meanwhile, BMC responded to the new market dynamics, where it now offers competitive prices to farmers. 

Moreover, government has taken a decision to allow private abattoirs, who meet standards to export their produce in a move targeted at stimulating improvements in the meat industry. BOPA