04 Nov 2026

Farmers have been implored to adopt climate-smart farm practices to conserve soil moisture during the upcoming ploughing season as Botswana braces for El Nino.  In an interview, Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers agronomist, Ms Emeliah Magosi, said preserving soil moisture could be achieved through the use of machinery like chisel plougher and reapers which do not cause deep cultivations. 

 She said some farmers were already futuristic having acquired no-till planters which were designed to deposit seeds directly into uncultivated soil.  

Ms Magosi remarked that by depositing seeds on soil without ploughing preserved the moisture that could sustain crops when rain was scarce. However, she advised farmers without such machinery to apply traditional practices of digging basins on soil only on the portion where the seeds would be cast. 

 “Digging precise basins targets only small holes, which then channels and traps localised moisture for the seed. One should then layer dry grass over the basin as insulation to block evaporation, blocking the sun and retain soil humidity.” 

The agronomist stated that it was imperative for farmers to acquaint themselves with the weather forecasts as released by the Department of Meteorological Services in order to understand what below normal rainfall and extreme hot temperatures forecast translated to in farming. Furthermore, she called on farmers to plant crops that matured quickly to escape the El Nino conditions.  Ms Magosi opined that drought tolerant crops like sorghum, cowpeas, mung beans, black-eyed beans would be ideal to plough, adding that Pandamatenga farmers stood an advantage as these were always part of their cropping plan. 

She remarked that the ongoing heatwaves had stripped the ground of its moisture reserves, leaving fields parched right at the start of the crucial ploughing season despite Pandamatenga having experienced rainfall of 200mm beginning of the year. 

Moreover, Ms Magosi said the fact that farmers had planted sunflower extensively last season was disadvantageous because sunflower consumed a lot of moisture from the soil.  

The agronomist advised that due to high temperatures experienced across the country farmers should not cast their seed on the ground after the first rains because most of the soils would be extremely dry to hold seeds. ENDS