29 Apr 2024

The vegetable import ban on selected produce has reduced the horticulture import bill by 71 per cent.

“The import bill on horticultural products experienced a significant decline from P634 million in 2018 to P182 million in 2023,” Minister of Agriculture, Mr Fidelis Molao told delegates at the just ended HATAB conference in Maun.

This, he said was a win for Batswana farmers who were now sole producers and suppliers of these selected vegetables.

Mr Molao said since the inception of the ban in 2021, local farmers produced a total of 67 000 tonnes of horticulture products in that year compared to the 86 000 tonnes in 2023.

He said government imposed the restrictions to ensure food security, create jobs, empower Batswana and end reliance on other countries.

He, however, highlighted that there were still gaps in the horticultural sector that needed Batswana to come to play and ensure the industry was fully sufficient.

Mr Molao said there was need to set up storages and distribution centres where farm produce would be stored and conserved for quality assurance.

He said currently there was one cold storage facility in Sherwood which catered for all farmers hence noted that this was an opportunity for more Batswana to explore the cold storage venture.

The minister encouraged tourism and hospitality industry to invest and foster collaboration with farmers.

For his part,  Minister of Trade and Industry Mr Mmusi Kgafela advised the tourism and hospitality industry to continuously engage with the agriculture ministry to discuss and share experiences on how the import ban had affected their businesses and remedy to the challenges.

He said tourism industry served high-end tourists who expected certain vegetables that could be unavailable at some point locally yet could not be imported which called for a conversation with the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said trade and investment were very essential for Botswana hence noted that the import restrictions were not meant in any way to destroy relations beyond borders but empower Batswana.ENDS