12 Aug 2026

Government acknowledges that the original design and conceptual framework underlying the Letsema Horticulture Market (LHM) was informed primarily by a supply-side philosophy, one that prioritised the creation of physical market infrastructure without sufficiently anchoring that infrastructure in confirmed, structured demand. 

Answering a question in Parliament on Tuesday, the Assistant Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe said the original model treated the construction of a trading floor, cold storage and logistics facilities as sufficient to organically attract both producers and buyers. 

He said the operational model was primarily that of a wholesale buy-sell facility in which, the market purchased produce from farmers and resold it to buyers trading on margin. 

Mr Mathoothe further said in terms of governance, Letsema Horticulture Market was structured as an independent Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) designed to ensure operational autonomy and the ability to attract private sector and development partners over time. 

He said the SPV operated under a Board of Directors accountable to CEDA and it consisted of independent directors with expertise in commercial agriculture, human resources technology and innovation, agricultural research, procurement and financial management. 

Mr Mathoothe said regarding market access, LHM does not have full market access of all procurement entities in the country and competed with other horticultural produce sellers in the market. 

In terms of pricing, Mr Mathoothe added that LHM operated as a price taker with major of-takers particularly retail supermarket chains, effectively dictating purchasing prices. 

He said LHM sold in bulk to a concentrated buyer base, therefore lacked the negotiating leverage to influence price discovery and this dynamic consistently disadvantages upstream farmers who before the cost of production yet have no meaningful input into prices at which, their goods are sold. 

Mr Mathoothe said on farmer participation, LHM operated a registered producer programme under which farmers, co-operatives and producer organisations were formally onboard as authorized suppliers. 

He said as at the end of the 2025/26 financial year, LHM’s supplier register included domestic producers and cooperatives with 355 farmers registered. 

The assistant minister said the key challenges affecting LHM performance included limited national reach due to unavailability of regional collection centres, limited and inconsistent access to markets. 

He noted that a major constraint had been the absence of structured and guaranteed off-take arrangements, particularly from large and reliable buyers such as retailers and supermarkets. 

Mr Mathoothe further said another challenge was partial digital integration, absence of a fully integrated digital platform including real-time price dissemination, mobile interfaces, logistics management and financial reconciliation. 

He said high operating cost and risk burden remained a challenge, the wholesale buy-sell model placed the heaviest operating cost and risk burden on the market, requiring substantial working capital, exposing LHM to inventory and shrinkage losses, and necessitating intensive cold chain and logistics management, all with throughput volumes insufficient to sustain the associated cost base. 

The assistant minister added that supply inconsistency and lack of farmers awareness was another challenge as smallholder production in Botswana was characterised by seasonality, variability and vulnerability to weather events and many producers were still learning about the LHM’s existence. 

He added that the future of LHM was anchored on a three-phase roadmap to make it a demand driven, export oriented horticulture hub. 

Mr Mathoothe said Phase 1 being Gaborone Horticulture Market Centre was built and operational and Phase 2 being National Collection Centre Network with current priority being rolling out regional collection centers and each center would have cold storage, sorting, grading and would be linked to HMC via refrigerated logistics. 

He further said Phase 3, full value-chain integration and export was where they would deploy the full digital platform for all stakeholders. 

The assistant minister said this would add value-added services including pre-packing; branding and G.A.P certification with target export markets being SADC, the EU under the EPA, and AfCFTA. 

He said the shift was informed by three things, benchmarking in 2024 and 2025 to leading markets in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Freshing Vaal and Rustenburg where it was learnt that location and design were critical, that commission models required strong regulation, that technology must be embedded from the start, that waste management was key to profitability and that inclusion required deliberate policy. 

Mr Mathoothe said the second thing being operating model analysis confirmed that government could not sustainably carry market and price risk and a facilitator model was more viable and the third private sector input on engagement of market operators, buyers and investors showed their input directly shaped the SPV structure, the agent regulations and the focus on service based revenue. 

He said LHM was transitioning from a single building to a national market system and added that challenges were real but so was the plan to address them and with Phase 2 infrastructure, digital systems, regulated agents and private sector partnerships, government was positioning LHM to reduce imports, increase farmer income and create jobs. 

Member of Parliament for P for Shoshong, Mr Moneedi Bagaisamang had asked the minister to update Parliament on the Letsema Horticulture Market and to state whether government acknowledged that its initial design was based on an outdated supply-driven model with limited market integration. 

He also asked the minister to state the current operational strategy, including governance, market access, pricing and farmer participation and further state key challenges affecting performance, particularly competitiveness coordination and sustainability. 

Mr Bagaisamang further asked about the future development strategy to reposition the market as a demand driven, export oriented horticulture hub and what informed the shift in government’s approach including lessons learned and private sector input. ends