29 Jan 2023

Botswana is looking into inviting the African Development Bank (AfDB) to chat a way forward on the uptake of the Country Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts endorsed by the second Feed Africa Summit that was held in Dakar, Senegal January 25-27.

Minister of Agriculture, Mr Fidelis Molao, said this in an interview at the end of the summit, stating that Botswana would have the opportunity to present her case to AfDB on to how the country could leverage on the opportunities for advancing agriculture productivity.

“There is need to constantly engage entities like AfDB to assist Botswana where she is lagging behind, particularly in areas such as having enough water, manufacturing fertilizers locally, among other challenges in order to produce better agriculture yield,” he said.

He added that Botswana, like other countries, had agriculture programmes with immense potential, but fell short due to insufficient funding.

“In that regard, more funds are needed to drive programmes like the revamped Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD), revamped artificial insemination and enhancement of extension services to reach farmers timely among other initiatives,” he said.

Mr Molao said time was nigh Botswana adopted smart agriculture to determine the amount of yield needed especially to produce enough grains using irrigation technologies.

“We engaged a lot about how we can fill gaps that affect our agriculture output and most governments lack in that aspect, although each country has a unique case. So the summit has been helpful in providing a platform for engaging towards sufficient food production,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr Molao indicated that partnerships with entities like AfDB through their programmes to transform the sector would assist Botswana realise agriculture potential.

In another interview, Minister of Entrepreneurship, Mr Karabo Gare said the development of value chains in Botswana was a step in the right direction towards ramping up efforts to achieve food sufficiency and was a building block towards food security in the continent.

“We need to scale up our efforts to feed the nation and reduce the import bill, especially food imports,” he said.

“Therefore enhancing the quality of locally produced goods is also important in boosting the economy and reducing food imports in the wake of uncertainties brought about by geo-politics,” Mr Gare said.

He added that Botswana had already prioritised some sectors in the agriculture space such as agro-processing zones that should be developed further to bring about opportunities in the agribusiness and further create employment opportunities through agriculture industries.

“The use of technological advancement in agriculture is equally important to increase production and paying attention to mitigating climate change effects,” he said.

Meanwhile, the AfDB has committed a US$10 billion investment facility over the next five years to boost Africa’s efforts to end hunger and become a primary food provider for itself and the rest of the world.

Minister Gare said areas such as agro-processing would be targeted through such assistance. ENDS