26 Feb 2026

Through the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), agriculture stands not only as a subsistence activity, but a productive, competitive and investment ready sector of the future.

This was revealed by Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe, when officially opening the inaugural Botswana Agriculture Business and Investment Forum in Tlokweng yesterday.

Mr Gaolathe said under BETP, it was recognised that sustainable growth would not be driven by government alone but that the latter’s role was to create an enabling environment, policy certainty, infrastructure, regulatory reform and strategic coordination so that enterprise, innovation and capital could flourish.

“We seek partnerships wherever excellence resides. Because prosperity today is built through collaboration, not isolation. This platform must become an annual marketplace of ideas, capital and enduring friendships,” said Mr Gaolathe.

He said the forum arrived at a time when Botswana must decisively broaden its economic base beyond diamonds as the soil beneath was as strategic as minerals beneath it.

Mr Gaolathe highlighted that agriculture was not merely about food production but about agro-processing, export competitiveness, climate resilience, rural industrialisation and jobs especially for youth and women.

“We believe in a new Botswana confident, fair, inclusive. We believe in a new Africa high-income, diversified, digitally enabled and empowered. We believe Africa is the world’s emerging breadbasket. But this future will not arrive by optimism alone. It will require discipline, technical education, strong institutions and coordinated effort across institutions,” he added.

Held under the theme: Catalysing Investment in Agri-Food Systems for Inclusive Growth and Food Sovereignty, Mr Gaolathe said the theme spoke directly to government’s ambition.

He said agriculture had been identified under BETP as one of six economic engines to revitalise the economy and government was intentional about it.

“Through agriculture, we are determined to lay a firm foundation for industrialisation and job creation especially for the youth, women and persons living with disabilities. They have far more to offer than we can imagine. Our responsibility is to unlock that potential,” he said.

He said to ensure food security, rural development and agro-industrial opportunities there was need to raise agriculture’s contribution to GDP from two percent to at least six per cent in the immediate term.

Mr Gaolathe said this was only possible by repositioning agriculture from subsistence to a resilient, export oriented agro-industrial sector built on value chains, agro-processing and market access.

“Growth in agriculture will reduce our import bill and increase exports. But more than that, it will restore dignity to production and pride to enterprise. This entails investment in agro-processing and value addition of livestock and crop commodities. Botswana aims to convert its land, water and farmer base into competitive exports in meat, high-value crops and nutraceuticals,” he said.

Mr Gaolathe said through BETP government was adopting a holistic approach to pricing and seasonality challenges by investing in cold chain solutions and logistics such as strengthening electricity provision, ICT infrastructure and supply routes to production zones.

For her part, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations Botswana representative, Ms Carla Mucavi, said the forum was a landmark platform that under-scored Botswana’s unwavering commitment to transforming its agrifood systems and achieving food sovereignty.

She commended government for prioritising agriculture as a driver of economic diversification and noted that guided by the UN’s Cooperations Framework and FAO Country Programming Framework, they continued to support national efforts to strengthen value chains, enhance productivity, improve nutrition and build resilience to climate change.

“Through some FAO transformative global initiatives such as the One Country One Priority Product (OCOP), we aim to help Botswana develop a competitive and sustainable value chains that can access regional and international markets while creating jobs and increasing incomes locally,” she said.

She said under the OCOP, which Botswana joined last year, FAO was supporting the development of potato national strategy, which would seek to explore the entire potato value chain from research and development, seed production, farm production and through to establishment of processed products and establishment of relevant industries.

Ms Mucavi said FAO was jointly working with government in developing the agriculture Financing Strategy, aimed at de-risking agriculture and promoting investments to the sector to unlock its immense potential.

The two-day event brought together key stakeholders in the sector including farmers, investors, innovators among others to explore new investment opportunities and promote sustainable food production. ENDS