16 Feb 2023

The Ministry of Agriculture should be among those given priority when the national budget is allocated looking at its importance in the daily lives of ordinary Batswana.

Making his input on the 2023/2024 financial budget proposals on Wednesday, Member of Parliament for Takatokwane, Mr Tshoganetso Leuwe indicated that the ministry deserved a large share of the budget than it normally got from the national coffers, especially now that COVID-19 revealed that the country lacked self-sustenance in food production.

“COVID-19 opened our eyes to the fact that we are heavily reliant on imports as a country.

This should compel us to take local food production seriously, and as a government we should be seen to lead the way by giving the Ministry of Agriculture a good share of the budget,” he said.

Mr Leuwe said it was worrisome that of late, government did not seem to treat the agriculture sector with the seriousness it deserved, citing shortage of resources such as vehicles.

“In the past agricultural demonstrators and veterinary officers were resourced with vehicles and even motor bikes so that they could access farmers even at remote areas, but these years most officers spent too much time in offices without interacting with farmers because of lack of transport,” he said.

Again, he said apart from the need to feed the nation, the sector was also one of those with higher potential of employment creation, especially in rural areas.

He also called for a specific bank that served agriculturalists to speed up the process of financial assistance to farmers.

Furthermore, the legislator argued that the proposed budget did not address most of the concerns in his area, such as shortage of roads, village electrification and shortage of water.

“Since this session sits with hindsight of development requests from Batswana, we expected the budget proposals to be informed by those needs, but in my constituency we have poor roads that are not included in the Transitional National Development

Plan, specifically the Letlhakeng-Kaudwane road which is a tourist route as it leads to the parks,” he said.

Mr Leuwe suggested that if the road was too costly, it could be constructed in phases.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Okavango, Mr Kenny Kapinga called on government to prioritise taking developments to people rather that creating wealth.

Mr Kapinga said major projects such as the Mohembo and Kazungula bridges were the ones that people wanted as they normally came with employment opportunities.

He also urged government to reprioritise its security budget and focus on law enforcement agencies that fought crime, which he said was on the rise in the country.

“Prioritising the BDF was a necessary way in the past because the situation dictated that, but reality has since changed as the country is now challenged by high crime rate, so our budget should be equally realistic and move with the current challenges,” he said. ENDS