21 Sep 2026

The P110 million refurbishment project for the five Pitsane silos is expected to get underway in the near future

In an interview, the acting strategy manager at Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) Ms Ontlametse Ntshole said materials for the project had already been procured from Turkey.

“We have already procured and received materials worth at least P38 million from Turkey”, she said.

Ms Ntshole said tender for the works to be done would be floated soon, adding that the management of BAMB was in advanced talks with the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture to release the remaining balance so that the project could start. She revealed that the refurbishments would include amongst others, replacing the rusty silos which also had a problem of leakages during the rainy season.

 Ms Ntshole said since last year the silos had not been in use but instead they were receiving the harvest from farmers, packaging and storing it in the warehouse.

“This decision was taken to enable the project to start any time after all the logistics are done,” she said explaining that if they were storing the harvest in the silos there were going to be delays while still clearing the stock.

 The silos which have a capacity of 25 000 metric tonnes and five in total, have been in existence since 1978. Ms Nthole said the refurbishments were long overdue looking at the number of years that they have been in existence. 

 The acting strategy manager said they were still receiving harvest from farmers and their initial closure was projected to September 30, but there was a likelihood of extending the deadline as some farmers were still lagging behind, especially those in the Jwaneng area. ENDS