01 Aug 2024

Production of food in all its variety and the security of food systems constitute a critical aspect of the country’s economy. 

Officiating at the Chobe Agricultural Show in Pandamatenga yesterday,  President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said government was, therefore, resolute on promoting agriculture development.

He appreciated that production in Pandamatenga area contributed a lot towards the total production in the country especially sorghum which, he said seemed to be doing well in the area.

“Government will continue to expand storage capacity to the extent possible thereby enabling you, the farmers to concentrate on boosting your production capacity,” he said..

He said it had been indicated that due to the current climate change effects, production in the district had been fluctuating in recent years in succession, citing that the estimated total area planted for the 2021/22 cropping season was 321 183.93 hectares and total production was 175 940.84 tonnes.

President Dr Masisi acknowledged that from that production, Chobe Agricultural District contributed 82 000 metric tonnes, which translated to 47 per cent of the total production.

“However, for the subsequent years to date, it was reported that production in the district had been declining mostly because of drought, with this year’s volume of production being the worst,” Dr Masisi said.

Despite the challenges, the President appreciated that over the last three years, covering 2020/21 season to 2022/2023 season, there had been an increasing trend in production of horticulture products as the numbers rose from 4 880 tonnes in 2020/21 to 12 171.33 tonnes in 2022/23, resulting in some of the products being exported.

On the other hand, he said production of cereals and legumes painted a totally different picture citing that the 2019/2020 season had a total production of 93 446.08 tonnes, while the 2020/2021 production stood at 43 302.45 tonnes, and in 2021/22 production was 81 997.70 tonnes.

He appreciated Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association for organising the show despite extreme bad weather condition experienced in the 2023/24 season which had been a very dry one.

“I am, however, happy and encouraged by your adaptation measures, as some of you have gone into irrigating the grain crops to increase output, which is in sync with government’s initiative of subsidising irrigation equipment for grain crop production through the Temo Letlotlo programme. 

This shows how crucial it is to be vigilant to climate change and pay particular attention to our production methods to ensure sustainability of the environment and other factors subjected to climate change effects,” he added.

President Masisi said adapting to climate-related environmental changes often required finding innovative solutions, and urged farmers including other value chain players to come together and develop technologies for mitigating the dire consequences.

 The government, he said was committed to continuous provision of supportive environment for all participants to enable enhanced social and economic well-being. He, therefore, urged all stakeholders to partner with government in aligning development efforts towards achieving National Vision 2036.

President Masisi also appreciated the event theme :Unity and technology of Chobe filling Botswana food basket,  saying it was relevant to the current Reset Agenda which called for mindset change in ensuring that Batswana fed themselves and created employment. ends