04 Mar 2014

Tourism and livestock are equally important to Botswana and neither should be seen as a competitor to the other.

Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama said this Tuesday, March 4 when officiating at the Ministry of Agriculture's letsema event.

Minister Khama said common thinking was that the two industries were opposites where each was trying to survive onslaught by the other. He said it was time people stopped such thinking. He said wildlife and livestock should be seen as adding value to the national goal of prosperity for all.

“We need to realise that both livestock and wildlife are natural resources we have, that we need to care for and that we need to optimise their benefits for the country,” Minister Khama said. He encouraged appreciation of Botswana’s limited resources and called for their prudent and meaningful use.

“I am concerned that Batswana do not seem to realise that we have a finite natural resources base,” he said. Minister Khama said it was regrettable that people were not exploiting Botswana’s rich natural and wildlife resources which included land, water, fauna and flora in the country.

He said some farmers were allocated fields but were not using them, while some were assisted to plough but failed to care of their fields.

Mr Khama noted that although the agriculture sector’s overall output did not meet the national target, it had the potential to contribute to rural development and poverty eradication. He said this would in return help the government to realise its poverty eradication agenda.

Mr Khama said agriculture continued to play a critical role in the areas of food security, employment creation and provision of raw materials for other sectors.

The minister said it was through forums such as Letsema that new ideas could be injected into the sector to lend it momentum and help it produce intended results.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture Mr Christiaan De Graaff said by inviting the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism his ministry wanted to send a clear message that the two economic sectors were not opposed to each other.

“We admit that we have serious challenges that are caused by conflicts between wildlife and livestock and by wildlife on agricultural farms and fields,” he said. However, he said the two sectors must work together to find solutions to the challenges.

He said the two ministries were working together and cited the chilli pepper project whereby the vegetable was used to deter elephants from destroying fences and fields as an example.

Earlier when welcoming guests, Kgosi Mosadi of Balete complained that the growth of Ramotswa and surrounding villages had encroached into and even swallowed up the fields and grazing areas of her morafe, hence their cattle were often found in the city.

She suggested stakeholders should to dialogue to find a solution to the problem. The forum, which is attended by various stakeholders, will end on Thursday, March 6.