04 Feb 2024

Government should create an environment conducive for a vibrant private sector led economy, and should promote value chain development in its totality, says Mr Ratsela Molefe, the chairperson of Farmers United.

Speaking ahead of the budget speech to be presented by Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame today, Mr Molefe said such an economy should ensure that sectors such as agriculture benefited through value chain development.

He said the finance minister should set the tone and facilitate the agricultural sector to benefit from such an economy.

Farmers United is an association of local horticulture farmers and it operates the country’s sole distribution centre wholly owned by the farmers at Gaborone West Industrial.  The centre also serves as a market for local horticultural produce.

Mr Molefe argued that roads leading to farms should be upgraded to increase production and harness value chain development.

“If your look at the road structures from our farms, they are so appalling,” he said, adding that the situation was worse during the rainy season and made it difficult to transport produce to the market.

He said to address food security there has to be infrastructure development and linkages.

Mr Molefe also said they were hopeful that Minister Serame would speak to  availing more funds to research and development.

He noted that countries that were advanced in agriculture were allocating more funds to research and development.

He gave examples of countries such as Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia as having allocated more funds to research and development to develop the sector.

“We are looking at a budget that will address such issues,” he said, adding that value chain development resonated with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Reset Agenda priority number four.

He said under the priority, President Masisi has argued that value chain development would unlock opportunities for new high growth companies in the private sector.

The initial sectors of focus on value chain development and linkages include minerals, tourism, agriculture and education, and the approach involves progressively developing linkages between different stages in the production of goods and services thereby creating jobs and improving livelihoods.

During the 2023/24 budget estimate, Minister Serame proposed over P540 million of the development budget for value chain development initiatives.ENDS