17 Jun 2026

Embracing rural industrialisation and forming community cooperatives can change the outlook of communities and spur economic transformation at village level.

Addressing a community development symposium in Tatisiding on Monday, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ignatius Moswaane urged Tatisiding residents to consider the idea of industrialisation and community cooperatives with respect to the production of the goods they consume daily.

Mr Moswaane said rural industrialisation entailed intensifying local production of goods and services that people used on daily basis and was a good way of unlocking business opportunities.

“At the core, every person needs three things; food, clothing and shelter. Look at any budget, national or personal! Your salary buys food, clothing and shelter. That is business for someone else, or it can be business for you,” he said.

Mr Moswaane said the key question for Tatisiding was about identifying what was needed, and deciding on how it could be produced by the community for its own benefit.

He said Tatisiding having evolved from village status to a peri-urban area, and with its strategic location near Francistown, its residents should capitalise on the situation by similarly evolving in terms of how they ran their local economy.

He challenged residents to consider the production, locally, of food, clothing, building materials, medicine and technology products, saying that those could effectively anchor local businesses.

To achieve this, he called for the formation of Development Trusts, cooperative societies and community-owned companies to run factories and create employment.

Giving examples, Mr Moswaane said communities could, through Village Development Committees and Development Trusts, own businesses dealing in the production of goods such as cement, bricks, roofing materials, window frames and tiles.

On agriculture, he said community farms were needed to achieve food security and reduce imports. As such he implored residents to look into crop farming with a bias towards horticulture.

He said if they could build factories, residents could farm and process vegetables and fruits such as potatoes, beetroots, onions, tomatoes, watermelon, oranges and mangoes.

He said the livestock sector offered opportunities in feedlotting, meat processing as well as poultry and game farming, which he said could also be successfully undertaken through community trusts.

Mr Moswaane further pointed to manufacturing and processing of cleaning detergents including bath soap, washing powder and toilet paper.

He said the packaging of dried foods such as beans, rice, salt and fruits was another avenue that locals could pursue.

“The goal is to shift our mindset and make business our priority. By producing what we consume, we keep jobs, money and skills in our communities. Through rural industrialisation, we will feed our own people and build Botswana from the ground up.” he said.

However, residents welcomed the minister’s vision but raised concerns over land and other services.

Mr Ronnie Boitshepo contended that though the assistant minister’s ideas were intriguing, lack of access to land would hamper the village from implementing them.

He said many residents did not have land or plots hence it would be difficult for them to start cooperatives without a place to operate from.

Another resident, Ms Margaret Nkomo appealed for more services to be brought to Tatisiding, saying their unavailability locally forced villagers to travel to Francistown.

“We need basic services here. For banking, healthcare and some government offices, we still travel to the city. It costs time and money,” she said.

For her part, District Commissioner for North East, Ms Wame Samapipi said the symposium served as a platform to inform and educate residents of Tatisiding on new government policies and programmes.

Ms Samapipi also noted that the symposium also showcased opportunities for economic empowerment, job and wealth creation as well as to strengthen engagements between government and residents and to promote citizen participation in national development.

The symposium brought together village leaders, youth groups and local entrepreneurs to discuss strategies for sustainable growth. ENDS