18 Dec 2025

Government is not in a position to set up an agricultural collection centre in Kgatleng East constituency owing to fiscal constraints.
However, government is alive to the increase of horticulture across the country, Kgatleng East inclusive.
Answering a question in Parliament on behalf of Minister of Lands and Agriculture, the Assistant Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe, however said, the ministry through the Horticulture Support Fund would support development of infrastructure and buildings in production areas in order to ensure strategic linkages to markets.
As part of the private sector participation, through Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) the ministry has established the Letsema Horticulture Market to facilitate the marketing of horticultural products in the country, Mr Mathoothe said.
He explained that it was intended that the activities of the market would expand to other areas across the country over time and possibly through the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board’s existing infrastructure across the country.
In addition to complement private sector developments, he said a farmer in Tuli Block had established a cold storage facility to be used by other farmers but at a fee, in a bid to reduce post-harvest losses.
Mr Mathoothe said government also encouraged farmers to form clusters that could work towards raising funds for managing logistics and construction of the envisioned centres.
Kgatleng East MP, Mr Mabuse Pule, had asked the minister if government intended to establish an agricultural collection centre for farmers within the Kgatleng East constituency, particularly along the Madikwe and Limpopo rivers, where farmers produced a significant amount of agricultural produce, and if so what plans were in place to support the initiative. ENDS