18 Feb 2026

Horticulture is not only a profitable business but also a crucial way to contribute to food security while promoting healthy living. It is a necessary part of modern agriculture, providing people with nutritious, food, beautiful landscapes and economic opportunities.

Ms Minky Morake, a horticulturalist at Masama lands near Serowe says horticulture plays a vital role in modern agriculture.

She plants various vegetables, herbs, cucumber, fruits, decorative plants, peanuts, maize, water melons, green pepper, chilies within a seven hectare chunk of land.

Her work is promising and she is determined to take the industry to greater heights.

She started her business two years ago, using money from her pocket and her family. 

Ms Morake only acquired a big shade net from the then Temo-Letlotlo government programme.

Born and raised in Serowe, Ms Morake says that greenhouse technology has initiated various interventions aimed at enhancing food and nutrition security and combating starvation in the country.

She notes that horticulture is one of the sectors chosen by government as a priority for agricultural diversification and employment creation.

The sector, she adds, has also been chosen for value chain development as a means of supporting private sector development through which more value can be unlocked.

She notes that agriculture was customarily perceived to be a primary sector that can help the country’s disadvantaged communities to escape the realities of poverty and problems of unemployment.

“I fell in love with farming at a young age when our parents always took us along to our cattlepost in Tshoswaane. We looked after livestock and planted as well. We thought they were abusing us, but I eventually loved it,” Ms Morake recalls.

She adds that research illustrates that spending time in a green space reduces stress, improves mental health and promotes physical activity.

Ms Morake sells her produce at SPAR, Choppies Supermarkets and individuals, more especially street vendors and public servants who place orders.

She says left overs are dried for future consumption. 

The budding horticulturalist has a tractor and a borehole in her farm and has so far employed four people apart from casual labourers engaged during harvesting.

Ms Morake says she is passionate about her job because it puts food on the table. 

She is concerned about farmers in her area, who do not pull together resources to achieve great milestones, adding that no man is an island.

She says they had formed a horticulture association but has since collapsed.

Mr Morake advises the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education to put more effort in agricultural curriculum in schools so that children can learn about its importance at grassroots level.

She has undergone many courses at Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, about food and fodder processing, horticulture and meat processing among others.

Ms Morake wants to have a big storage facility where supermarkets and shops will come and collect their orders, noting that she produces perishables, which need cool and cold rooms. ENDS