28 Nov 2021

The horticulture sub-sector has remained resilient and continues to show great potential in contributing towards food self-sufficiency.

Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Ms Beauty Manake said this is despite the fact that horticultural farmers were constantly grappling with challenges such as erratic weather conditions, which at times included frost and floods.

Ms Manake, who is Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, said lack of access to financing and limited markets were other setbacks that deterred the sub-sector from realising its full potential.

She, however, said it was pleasing that despite the challenges and hardships it faced, horticulture continued to make a mark among the different agricultural undertakings being pursued.

Concerning the beef industry, the Member of Parliament said the exportation of live cattle has put Botswana on course to become the export-led economy that the country had been seeking to become.

Encouraging cattle farmers to consider exploring these new markets, she said those that had done so were already reaping better proceeds from the sale of their livestock.

Ms Manake stated that as a result, some of the farmers had been able to use returns from the sale of their cattle to improve their farming through, among others, buying bulls to improve their breeds.

The Member of Parliament also observed that the smallstock industry carried great potential, hence Batswana needed to change their mindset regarding the sub-sector.

She said with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi having thrown his weight behind the sub-sector through his smallstock initiative, it was clear that if pursued as a business, the industry would bring great returns.

However, like horticulture, Ms Manake said the smallstock industry was faced with numerous challenges among them lack of access to financing.

Meanwhile, Jwaneng/Mabutsane Member of Parliament, Mr Mephato Reatile said while President Masisi’ smallstock initiative was a good development, it could still be improved to make it more effective.

Mr Reatile said if turned into a programme with funding from government, the initiative would be more impactful.

He said once transformed into a government programme, it would then be necessary to identify smallstock breeds that could serve the country better and focus on those.

On another issue, Mr Reatile condemned the export of live cattle, labelling the move a lack of faith on the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) by government.

He said the exercise also spelt doom for the Lobatse Leather Park, saying with the number of hides diminishing due to live export of cattle, the leather park had no prospects of operating successfully even if it eventually took off.

The Member of Parliament said the live export also meant that there was no value chain addition in the beef industry, and that it had reduced Batswana to being mere cattle herders as they benefitted less from their livestock.

On education, Mr Reatile appealed for the maintenance of some schools in his constituency, which he said had been in a bad state for years.

He also said some schools were crippled by shortage of teachers’ housing. 

This, he said, had resulted in most teachers sharing houses, a situation he said was not ideal.

Mr Reatile also asked for the deployment of court clerks to Kutuku, Kanaku, Itholoke and Mahotshwane in hisconstituency.

He said some of the villages had modern, newly-built customary court offices, therefore, needed to be staffed adequately so that communities could be serviced well. Ends