29 Jun 2026

Botswana can no longer continue to finance agriculture the wrong way after years of substantial public investment that has not consistently translated into production, productivity and profitability, Ministry of Lands and Agriculture minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, has said.

Delivering a keynote address during the Botswana Agricultural Finance Strategy consultation workshop in Gaborone on Friday, Dr Dikoloti said the country had reached a defining moment where it must honestly assess whether agriculture financing had delivered the transformational outcomes required by the sector.

“The outbreak of FMD has had a devastating blow on the economy of this country and the livelihoods of our people. It has tested our systems, our resilience, and our collective capacity to respond to shocks that directly affect production, trade and household income across the country,” he said.

Although government had never stopped investing in agriculture through subsidies, grants, infrastructure programmes, mechanisation initiatives, livestock support schemes, drought relief programmes and other interventions, the minister expressed concern that the results had remained below expectations.

He said programme after programme had evolved in design, whilst new interventions had been introduced and others restructured, but production levels had remained modest, productivity gains had been limited and agriculture’s contribution to the national economy had continued to decline.

“In simple terms, we have often financed agriculture the wrong way for too long. Our financing systems have focused on supporting inputs, rather than rewarding outputs. We have financed activities, rather than value chains. We have measured expenditure, rather than impact,” he added.

Therefore, the strategy, developed through the technical support of the Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO), he said sought to create a financing ecosystem capable of unlocking investment at scale, attracting private capital, reducing risk, promoting innovation and empowering farmers and agribusinesses to thrive.

Additionally, the strategy is expected to transform the country’s agriculture sector into a commercially viable and export-oriented industry. This, the minister said would help make agriculture an attractive and bankable sector for private investment.

Agriculture, Dr Dikoloti said could not be transformed through public resources alone, adding that transformation required partnerships between government, financial institutions, development partners, investors, farmers, researchers and entrepreneurs.

He further stressed that the transformation also required innovative financing instruments, blended finance mechanisms, climate financing solutions and risk-sharing arrangements that would make agriculture bankable, whilst protecting those who invested in it.

The minister urged participants to participate in reviewing the draft strategy, saying the workshop was challenging a way of thinking that had shaped agriculture financing for decades.

He also appealed to financial institutions and funders to engage with farmers not as high-risk clients, but as high-yield investments capable of driving national transformation.

“A nation that cannot feed itself cannot guarantee its future. Its sovereignty, in very real terms, is placed at risk,” he said. ENDS