13 Mar 2014

Farmers are encouraged to grow drought resistant and early maturing varieties of crops to evade effects of drought, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi has said.

Mr Molebatsi said farmers are also encouraged to use moisture conservation techniques such as conservation agriculture and practicing good crop husbandry such as row planting and the use of fertilizers.

He also told parliament on Wednesday that drought was a natural disaster and the ministry had built into the programme drought mitigation measures based on available farming technologies. The assistant minister said the “Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) is improved on a continuous basis as we implement the programme.”

On livestock subsidies, he said, a mobile Livestock Advisory Centre was undertaken at Loloogane in Kweneng East from February 12 to 13, 2014. Livestock feeds and medicines were on offer, he added.

Due to transport constraints, he said the ministry has not been able to do as many mobiles as they would have liked in the Kweneng East area and in other areas in the country.

He was responding to parliamentary question from MP for Kweneng East, Major General Moeng Pheto who asked the minister if there were any plans

On livestock subsidies, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture said a mobile LAC was undertaken at Loloogane in Kweneng East from February 12 to 13, 2014, adding that livestock feeds and medicines were on offer any plans to improve the ISPAAD services after last year’s drought.

MP Pheto also wanted to know whether the minister was aware that subsidies on livestock supplements did not benefit the Kweneng East farmers as there were no Livestock Advisory Centre mobile trips to sell livestock supplements to farmers who could not access them in Molepolole and Gaborone. Ends