29 Jun 2022

Production of rice locally will be a blessing in terms of job creation - from farming to processing and other added value chain activities, Acting President Slumber Tsogwane has said.

 Speaking at the first harvest of water-saving and drought resistant rice in Sebele yesterday, Mr Tsogwane hailed the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) and African Agriculture project which has yielded nine tonnes.

  “I must  commend  the two entities  for  having  undertaken this  journey of doing trials  of upland  or  dry land  ploughing of rice  and  it  is worth noting that  they  have  also recently celebrated the  launch  of the  first  YTO BHERO  tractor,” he said.

  He said Botswana was a net food importation country with opportunity to increase domestic production of basic foodstuffs, particularly cereals including sorghum and maize.

Mr Tsogwane said rice imports went up by 29 per cent from 25 927 tonnes in 2017 to 33 609 tonnes in 2018.

Rice imports soared by 38 per cent in 2018 which called for an intervention, he said.

 “The drought resistant rice project was conducted after an observation that rice consumption takes lead in the market and one of the commodities that are highly imported in country,” he said.

   Mr Tsogwane said the plan was to plough the water saving and drought resistant  rice in other  areas  such as  Maun  and  Pandamatenga.

  Saying government appreciated such milestones, the acting president challenged Batswana and the private sector to continue coming up with initiatives that sought to drive national aspirations as espoused in Vision 2036.

   Mr Tsogwane said collaboration between BUAN and African Agriculture was also a blessing to the education sector as it contributed to skills development.

  BUAN students, he said, were the hope of Botswana’s agricultural sector stressing that school projects must yield results and products needed by the nation.

Business Botswana president, Mr Norman Moleele encouragd Batswana to take inspiration from the successful rice production trials to help cut down the import bill.

Local rice production came at the best time since the product was in high demand globally which meant Botswana could end up exporting it.

“The world  rice market  is  ready for the Botswana farmers to explore as government drives to transform to an export-led  economy,” he said. ENDs