GHANZI SHOW - Ministry of Agriculture

Kruger,Mokalake, Kgosi Baniki and Molebatsi
admiring one of the exhibits
“We see their crop when it is planted
and it compares extremely well with
those of commercial farmers, but then
all of a sudden it fades away because of
insects as these crops are not sprayed.”
Kruger said the current ISPAAD
package is good and a commendable
effort by government ,but he termed it
‘half package.’ He, therefore, advised
that it should be made ‘full package’ to
support the efforts of small scale farmers
who are currently healing wounds of
drought of the previous planting season.
The Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr
Lebonaamang Mokalake praised P.C.F.A
for embracing and facilitating a show
of such a nature. With the production
status such events, he said can be used
to promote improved technologies that
can increase production yield.
Mokalake concurred with the vision
of growing the event to make it regional,
hence attract attendants from abroad.
“It is my hope that Chobe Harvest Day
should grow in stature to such an extent
that it becomes a regional event where
neighboring countries will attend.”
Further, Mokalake appreciated the
choice of the theme and the way it was
portrayed. According to him, unity among
all the arable agriculture stakeholders
is important to pull the country from
the shame of importing its staple food
from as far as Australia. He said it goes
without saying that technology has also
characterized farming in Pandamatenga
and enabled them to feed Botswana.
With mechanization, good management
practices and use of high yield varieties,
Mokalake said Pandamatega farms have
far much higher productivity rate than
the national average. Reflecting on the
production history of Pandamatenga,
Mokalake noted that for the year 2010/11
planting season, about 22 000 hectares
was planted and production was about
43 000 tonnes of sorghum. This, he
said, states the obvious that subsistence
farmers have a lot to learn for Botswana
to achieve maximum production from
the 300 000 hectares cultivated under
ISPAAD.
“If other farmers were as productive
as Pandamatenga, we would have
produced enough cereal for local
consumption or even had excess for
export.”
Mokalake praised Pandamatenga
farmers who are tutoring and offering
attachments to small scale farmers.
“These small scale farmers are more
likely to improve their production
methods, because they have learnt
and adapted new production systems
through practice and experience.”
However, Mokalake regretted that
despite efforts by his ministry to avail land
for arable production, a considerable
amount remain uncultivated. He warned
those with uncultivated land to make use
of it because soon his Ministry will be
forced to repossess the land.
15
July 2012