13 Mar 2014

The Kweneng District Council dismissed a motion in which Councillor Lefty Ramotswai of Malwelwe called on the council to request the Ministry of Agriculture to subsidies diesel for tractor owners.

Cllr Ramotswai’s motion was proposing that government should consider subsidising diesel costs by 50 per cent. Tabling the motion during the ongoing full council meeting, Cllr Ramotswai suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture should give tractor owners a P10 000 advance at the beginning of the ploughing season to buy diesel and be part of the food production efforts through the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD).

The farmer would then refund the government P5 000 at the end of the ploughing season. Cllr Neo Segaisi of Takatokwane supported the motion because the subsidy would encourage Batswana to plough and produce food for Botswana.

Cllr Segaisi said councillors should take agricultural issues serious, especially that the government was trying to get Batswana out of poverty through agriculture.

Mr Cedric Mathanye, the councillor for Ratotoboro, urged other councilors to support this motion because Minister of Agriculture, Mr Christiaan De Graaff, said farmers should do row planting and those who do broadcasting would not be paid for it.

Other councillors dismissed the motion, saying the government already had a plan to help tractor owners through ISPAAD. Cllr Tona Selala of Thamaga West said that tractor owners should treat farming as a business and must therefore save money for diesel. A majority vote defeated Cllr Ramotswai’s motion. Ends