Botswana exceeds Maputo Declaration on food

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Thursday February 27, 2014 15:58

The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo, said this in Parliament after the member for Kgalagadi North, Phillip Khwae, asked whether Botswana was part of the commitment undertaken at the African Union’s 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to agriculture and rural development.

Matambo said Botswana was part of the commitment and had always committed more than 10 percent of its budget to agriculture and development in the past 10 years.

Over the years since 2002/2003 financial year, the Finance Ministry had dedicated 15.7 percent, 15.8 pecent, 17.9 percent, 16.8 percent, 16.2 percent, 16.6 percent, 17.6 percent, 17.8 percent, 14.3 percent, 14 percent, and 13.6 percent and 13.8 percent respectively to agriculture and development.

Further, the minister said the country was committed to making the agriculture sector a productive sector for economic diversification, food security and employment through appropriate investment and policy interventions.

 “Such investment and policy interventions shall not only be confined to agriculture proper, but also to those sectors which are inter linked with it. The private sector shall also play an important role as partners in agricultural development of this country,” he said.

 Other activities and programmes that are geared towards promoting rural development but not under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development are the poverty eradication programme, provision of water and electricity, upgrading and construction of roads, schools and clinics in rural areas, he pointed out.

“When we factor in these activities, the allocation of rural development would far exceed the stated percentages,” Matambo said.