11th February 2022
Own Correspondent
The agricultural sector in Botswana, plays a pivotal role in ensuring food sufficiency, income generation, employment creation and investment opportunities for other sub- sectors. To that end, Government has devised numerous initiatives to address different challenges facing the horticulture sub-sector as well as luring citizens into this previously unattractive enterprise. To mention a few:
- ISPAAD program inclusion of horticulture
- CEDA young farmers’ fund
- Youth Development Fund establishment
“LEA nevertheless deals with several insurmountable challenges faced by clients in the form of constraints made by the producer – buyer related issues in pricing and bad payment systems and methods that do not favour the farmers or producers. Other challenges being the limited ability to enforce certain products standards as well as grading methods,” said Dr Racious Moatshe, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Local Enterprise Authority(LEA).
He said, “There are also cases where some large retail buyers are becoming producers and this leads to creation of misappropriated monopolies and in worse cases the demise of budding entrepreneurs, a factor we should all worry about.”
Acccording to officials, the recent Imports for the 16 horticulture restricted crops ( Jan- Oct 2021) stood at P201 million against local production of P173 million.
The consumption of the 16 restricted crops therefore stands at P374 million. To meet the import bill of the restricted crops, local production needs to be improved by 116%.
“Three (3) crops, potatoes, tomatoes and onions account for 53% of the import bill,” said Moatshe.
The highest being Potatoes at 26%, Tomatoes 16% and Onions at 11%. Local production for the Potatoes account for 49% and imports are at 51% of the national demand. Local production for the tomatoes account for 44% and imports are at 56% of the national demand.
Local production for onions account for 49% and imports are at 51% of the national demand. In the restricted list the fresh herbs, ginger, garlic and chili peppers have very limited local production.
Local production for the Potatoes account for 49% and imports are at 51% of the national demand. Local production for the tomatoes account for 44% and imports are at 56% of the national demand.
There is a need to work towards a continuous quality supply of horticulture produce in the market and therefore there is a need for farmers to rise to the occasion through reinvesting their proceeds not only to support their businesses, rather to grow and improve the quality of their products.
“There is a dire need for farmers to collaborate with LEA effectively to facilitate the upgrading of their farming produce and products. Equally retailers should invest in agricultural schemes that enhance quality products and output,” said Moatshe.
He said, ”There is an urgency on the part of the retailers to work with producers and farmers to set up pricing structures on the products to harmonise the working relationships and to uplift the sector for continuous quality food production within the country and indeed for export.”
The insurance sector has been urged to raise its flag through visible and increased participation in the agriculture sector and provide products and services that address the needs of the agricultural sector if we are to progress with ease in the development and growth of the sector. Countries such as Japan have gone to great extents to support the repayment of working capital up to 20 years.
Moatshe maintained that more needs to help the sector which is still in its infancy stages. This included much better alignment of funding facilities and structures to provide flexible funding options and services that are sector appropriate to encourage and facilitate growth.
LEA has expanded its offering to include community development through commercialization.
“We have identified an opportunity to develop commercial agricultural hubs that are community driven. We have Letsholathebe Community Horticulture Project, where the goal is to develop and install infrastructure for the development of Open Fields, Tunnels and Nethouse horticultural production systems to support the continuous production and expose the community to various horticultural production systems available,” said Moatshe.
He said, “In Madikwe, the goal is to turn farms along Madikwe River into a District Horticultural Hub, “Madikwe Horticultural Hub”. The hub clusters horticultural farmers, for them to collectively produce for the local market. These farms are along Madikwe River in villages which are Mabalane, Sikwane, Mmathubudukwane, Ramonaka, Malolwane and Oliphant Drift.”
LEA has through the Glen valley horticulture incubator been capacitating prospective and existing horticulture farmers, with the aim of empowering them to run sustainable, profitable, and competitive horticultural enterprises. This program therefore plays a critical role in supporting and ensuring that government efforts bear fruit.
It is also noteworthy at this stage to mention that while the Authority is constrained to address challenges afflicting the horticulture sub-sector, strides have been made in facilitating access to serviced land by individuals showing potential contribute to government’s economic goals as well as advocacy on some of the above-mentioned initiatives.
LEA has to this end directly facilitated the allocation of serviced horticultural plots at Radihemelo in Serowe, Dikabeya irrigation scheme as well as Glen valley (Incubator and PTF) to a total of eighteen (18) incubator graduates.
The program has since inception in 2011, trained a total of 214 individuals, out of which; 42% are currently engaged in horticulture production.
Efforts are being made to facilitate the programme beneficiaries to access critical resources such as land and finance, to enable them to fully produce.
