Food import bill to drop this year

Boitshepo Majube | Friday January 24, 2014 15:46

Botswana has been struggling to increase local agricultural output to match with increasing demand. The country needs up to 12,000 tonnes of sorghum per year while the current production at Pandamatenga stands at about 50% of the national requirement.

The Minister of Agriculture, Christian De Graaf told Businessweek that a lot has been put in place to ensure that there are good harvests this year. He stated that in the past two seasons, there have been early rains followed by dry spells, which have not been good for farming. But this season promises to be good because the rains have been reliable.

'Even small scale farmers were supplied with hybrid seeds this year, that's why we are confident and expecting better yields and results,'he said. He stated that the recent P400 million infrastructure upgrades that included sewerage development and other supportive facilities has saved Pandamatenga farms from the effects of heavy downpours. With the new infrastructure, farmers were able to move big machinery into the fields and cover a lot of ground than before. The infrastructure has enabled the farmers to change ploughing methods in sync with technological developments.

De Graaf said he has been in contact with Tiene Kruger, Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association (PCFA) chairman, who has informed him that they are spraying their fields at the moment. He explained that due to the tight schedule of ploughing, they would have to plant crops that have shorter maturity period.

Pandamatenga, the country’s transformed food basket has 32 commercial farms. Another 25,000 hectares of land was availed to the farmers in the area and it is expected that once in full production, output is set to increase to 60,000 tonnes of grain in a good year.

However an agricultural economist at Botswana College of Agriculture, Dr Milly Monkhei has stated that to have good yields, all the variables have to be taken care of. 'Yes, there can be good rain, but if all the variables are not favourable then it will affect yields,” she pointed out.

Monkhei said that too much sun could prove harmful to plants and lead to low yields. 'Looking at rain alone, we cannot say we are going to have good harvests,' she said.   

Last year, Assistant Trade and Industry Minister, Keletso Rakhudu said the country would cut its overall import bill by 50% by the end of the financial year. He said the government is meeting its target to raise food production locally and diversify the country’s economy away from its over reliance on revenue from mining.