14 Nov 2023

Construction of a state of the art chicken poultry abattoir in Sefhophe is nearing completion, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi, has said.

Mr Molebatsi said this in a kgotla meeting he was addressing in Tobane last Friday.

He said the abattoir, constructed by Masebotse Cooperative and had the capacity to slaughter 1 000 to 1 500 chickens per day, would help improve poultry production in the SPEDU region.

He urged Tobane residents to start poultry projects to help the abattoir operate at full capacity, adding such projects also had the potential to create employment in the SPEDU region.

Mr Molebatsi, who is also the MP for Mmadinare, also urged them to revamp their backyard poultry projects to meet the demand for chickens and poultry products.

He said government intended to transform the agriculture sector into a profitable sector and improve household income for Batswana, hence the impending launch of the Thuo Letlotlo programme aimed at improving the livestock sector.

“Thuo Letlotlo would help increase the cattle population and improve the quality of beef so that farmers get returns for their investment,” he said. “Government would make it cheaper for local Batswana to get quality breeds through Artificial insemination (AI).”

 He added that government was improving the infrastructure as well as training the human resource at the AI camps to improve their service. He urged farmers to use AI camps to help improve the quality of their breeds because government had made it affordable for them to access such services.

On the newly introduced Temo Letlotlo programme, Mr Molebatsi said the programme was introduced to improve food production in Botswana and reduce the import bill.

“Temo Letlotlo is expected to help farmers purchase farm implements through a subsidy,” he said, thus urged farmers to register for the programme at their respective crop production offices.

Mr Molebatsi explained that the new programme which replaced the defunct Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD), required all participating farmers to make a compulsory donation of 50kg bag of grain for every hectare subsidised to the strategic grain reserve effective the 2024-2025 planting season. The programme also aimed at promoting food production and cultivate the spirit of self-reliance among farmers.

On other issues, Mr Molebatsi informed residents that the constituency was expecting to get upgraded roads to bitumen standards, including the construction of 40km road from Mmadinare to Robelela which would be financed through the current two-year Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP 2023-2025).

He said the 20km road joining Tobane and Tshokwe would be done in the 12th National Development Plan (NDP 12), which would commence in 2025.

Residents also heard that the government was in the process of constructing a bailey bridge at Molabe River to enable them to cross the river easily while a permanent bridge and permanent road would follow in the NDP 12.

Some residents of Tobane  thanked Mr Molebatsi for informing them about the upcoming projects which they hoped would improve their livelihoods.

They also commended the government for introducing Temo Letlotlo programme, saying it would help them improve their lives for the better.

However, they requested the government to help them control the movement of roaming elephants because they regressed their efforts by destroying their crops and boreholes.

They also asked the government to increase compensation for farmers whose crops had been destroyed by elephants. The residents also thanked the government for the construction of the new kgotla shelter. ENDS