Agrinews February 2013 - Ministry of Agriculture

editor’s noteFOUNDATIONPILLARSERADICATING POVERTY THROUGH AGRICULTUREVISIONAttain national food securityand global competitivenessin agricultural productsMISSIONTo improve agricultural productivitythrough technology developmentand transfer, diversification andcommercialization, inorder to promote food security inpartnership with our stakeholders.VALUES1. BOTHOWe treat our customers ina respectable and caring manner.2. TEAM WORKWe recognize the need to work asa team characterized by collectiveeffort, trust, understanding,support and perseveranceirrespective of rank or gender.3. CUSTOMER FOCUSEDOur customers are the focusof everything we do by beingcourteous, caring, compassionate,tolerant and empathetic.4. INNOVATIVEWe commit to employ new ideasand being proactive in order tomatch the requirements of thefuture.5. INTEGRITYWe foster a culture of transparency,accountability and dependability.Imagine the world where rainfallstops, crops start failing andpeople start dying of hunger.This will amount to the biblicalSodom and Gomorrah, particularlyfor subsistence farmers who arealways hard hit by poverty. Farmingis as old as humanity. About 70%of the poor in developing countries(Botswana inclusive) is directly tiedto agriculture for food security. It isclear agriculture is a single largestsource of employment.We believe that agriculture playsan important role to eradicatepoverty especially at micro level.Hence government assistanceprogrammes in various agriculturesub-sectors such as backyardgardening, beekeeping and smallstock. Since 2010 over 1000people were assisted with backyardgardens, 300 with small stock and69 benefited from beekeeping.These projects are not just materialresources of poverty eradication;it is an effort by the governmentto ensure that food security athousehold level is attained andthe Millennium Developmentgoal achieved. Through selectionof sub sectors of goat meat(chevon), vegetable and honeyproduction, the government is notonly addressing the issue of foodsecurity, but also food nutrition.We all know that goat meat andhoney are scarce commodities inthis country (demand for honey40t: local supply 13t), hence anopportunity for the beneficiariesto take advantage of the niche inthe market to empower themselvesfinancially.It is now up to beneficiariesto excel in these programmesso that poverty is eradicated.Poverty eradication is notthe sole responsibility of thegovernment. The government canonly supplement efforts of thehouseholds.Like us on facebook: Agrinews BWWebsite: www.moa.gov.bwPortal: www.gov.bw1February 2013