21 Nov 2021

Parliament has rejected the motion by Francistown South Member of Parliament, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi calling on government to consider assisting individual arable farmers to drill boreholes.

Thirty-nine MPs voted against the motion and 15 supported it, while some did not participate in the voting as they were absent.

Prior to the vote, Mr Mmolotsi had, in his response to the debate that had followed the presentation of the motion, said that despite the lack of support for the motion by some MPs, he remained confident that its adoption and implementation would have a positive outcome.

Mr Mmolotsi said it was important to prioritise making water easily accessible to farmers as it formed the core of their farming activities.

He argued that availing water to arable farmers would contribute towards efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in food production and that it would subsequently help lower the food import bill.

Mr Mmolotsi said access to water would similarly help increase the probability of success with regard to other initiatives that government had already put in place for the benefit of farmers.

He said since all farming activities required water for them to be successfully carried out, adopting and implementing the motion would ensure all-round success for farmers.

Some MPs had supported the motion, saying the lack of water for some within the farming community made farming cumbersome and less profitable.

Others had argued that it would be impractical to implement the motion.

Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Ms Beauty Manake had, when debating the motion, labeled it as not progressive.

Ms Manake had pointed out that the motion was contrary to ongoing efforts to bring farmers together through cluster farming and cooperatives.

She had also indicated that implementing the motion would cost government billions of Pula due to the prohibitive costs of drilling boreholes. Ends