18 Sep 2024

Temo Letlotlo programme which is in its first year has experienced a bad start making an insignificant impact to the beneficiary due to low rainfall in North West District.

Delivering a speech during a full council session on Monday, North West District Council chairperson, Mr Itumeleng Kelebetseng said that those who collected inputs did not utilise them and were advised to properly store them in order to use in the upcoming season.

A total of 55 who applied for fencing material, 26 females and 29 males were approved, 21 paid and collected fencing materials.

Other farmers, he said did not pay their contribution until the approval elapsed after 30 days.

He said that the total amount paid by government in respect of the 50 per cent subsidy for the fencing was P854 731.

Mr Kelebetseng also stated that three fencings were completed which included one electric fence and two ordinary fences adding that five applications for tractors had been received and all approved, paid and collected.

“The total amount paid for the tractors by government in respect of the 50 per cent subsidy is P366, 932,” he added. He also briefed councillors about the new department of Plant Health under the ministry of Agriculture whose  mandate is to timely control plant pests and diseases.

Ngamiland District is one of the poverty stricken areas in the country and its people mainly rely on growing crops and rearing of livestock to sustain their lives. However, agriculture has not been a smooth sail in the area due to the frequent outbreaks of plant and animal diseases.

Some farmers were losing hope on agriculture because of the invasive pests that invaded their crop fields before crops matured leaving farmers with nothing to return home.

But Mr Kelebetseng noted that the new department had already conducted three pest/ disease surveys in the district and the targeted pests mainly included migratory pests (locust, red billed quelea, African armyworm) and other common pests of economic importance such as fall armyworm, Leafminer-Tuta obsoluta and diamondback moth.

“From the survey no migratory pests and diseases had been detected so far and farmers have been advised to report any observation they may come across regarding the pests,” he added.

The department, he said also conducted phytosanitary inspections at Maun International Airport on the international arrivals noting that all commodities that were not compliant with Import Procedures as per Plant Protection Act (Cap 35:02) were denied entry. Currently the compliance of plants and plant products stood at 99.15 per cent.

With regard to export abattoir, Mr Kelebetseng informed the house that since the beginning of January - July 2024 a total of 19 928 cattle have been slaughtered from zone 2d and green zone at Maun export abattoirs with 5 449 at Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), 7 484 at Ngami and 6 995 at Batawana abattoir respectively.

A total of 280 847 kg of frozen boneless meat, he said was exported to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to Mozambique while 303 311 kg was sold locally to green zones such as Gaborone Francistown, Letlhakane, Palapye and Lobatse while 343 618 kg had been sold to Kasane market and the rest was sold in Ngamiland.

The chairperson decried vandalism of buffalo fence especially along Daunara to Matsebe camp stating that the only major repair conducted recently was on the fence from Boro to Tsutsubega to prevent cattle from entering the Okavango Delta.

However, he said the area continued to face substantial vandalism by humans.

Part of the fence at Nanogaonne –Boro (97 km) which was 85 per cent erect and intact, he said was submerged in water and also vandalised by both humans and elephants. ENDS