23 Jul 2024

This year marks a milestone for Ghanzi national agricultural show as it celebrates golden jubilee. 

The show has grown over the years and it has proved to be one of the country’s economic boosters.

President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi  is expected to officially open this year’s activities of the show on July 26.  

In an interview, Ghanzi show committee chairperson, Mr Thuso Mackenzie, said from inception, the event mainly fixated on promoting agricultural exhibitions, but with years unfolding, they saw need to incorporate other supporting business segments complementing the agricultural sector extensively.

He said with new modifications, the show existed to promote and support agricultural trade, marketing other products and services offered by local communities and other external service providers. 

He said the hospitality industry had experienced an influx of customers. He said all the 500 rooms in the township had been fully booked while service providers such as taxi operators were making a kill.

However, he decried failure to meet the accommodation’s demands by local hospitality industries and implored local community members to take advantage of that, by providing services such as tented accommodation or even renting out their houses temporarily.

On that note, he implored accommodation providers to set out prices that would attract more customers in future and beyond. Furthermore, he said they had more than 500 exhibitors, 225 cattle, 264 goats and 243 sheep and they had to extend their kraals to accommodate more exhibitors.

Mr Mackenzie commended main sponsor Water Utilities Corporation(WUC), Bank Gaborone, Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), Haskins and Botswana Oil.

On other issues, he said activities such as horse race, beauty contest and football tournament were on the lineup to close down the show on Friday. 

He applauded Ghanzi agricultural show patrons for establishing a show that had significantly contributed to the economy of the district.

One of the exhibitors, Mr Toy Katjiova (27) from Charles Hill, said he grew up in a family with interest on small stock farming as early as 1992 and he took the reins from his father in 2013.

To transits from subsistence to commercial farming, he said, he started to participate in different agricultural shows, including the Gaborone national show, where he won the junior champions.

He said through such participations he learnt new methods of breeding and feeding stock to increase the line of production, as he said currently he had a total number of 450 goats and 160 sheep. 

Mr Katjiova said he specialised in Boer goats, Kalahari Red, Savanna and Senna goats as for the sheeps, he breeds meat masters and veld masters.

He encouraged youth to venture into farming as a business and not take it as a hobby saying it had huge returns despite challenges. 

The show will be celebrated under the theme: Ghanzi show at 50, Sowing seeds of Innovation for Agricultural Transformation. Ends