AA Launches P3.3M Farmers Support
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday November 2, 2021 06:00
BHERO, a brand of locally manufactured tractors and implements made specifically for the soils and climatic conditions of Botswana, looks to support farmers with P10,000 each for five years while women and youth will get an extra year. At least P3.3 million has been set aside for the programme.
BHERO55, an initiative inspired by the 55th anniversary of Botswana, is part of the recently launched initiative of ‘Support A Farmer Feed The Nation’ campaign by AA in partnership with Business Botswana (BB) and Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN).
One of the mandates of the initiative is to assist the 55 farmers who purchase the YTO/BHERO tractors and implements with free education on how they can care and maintain for their farm implements and they get free services for their BHERO farm implements. Minister for Defence, Justice and Security, Kagiso Mmusi launched the programme on behalf of Acting Agricultural Development and Food Security minister, Beauty Manake. “This is a game changer in the agriculture sector and I am honoured to be part of a journey of a company that is focused on providing relevant agriculture equipment that caters for the needs of local farmers.
Agricultural ministry takes seriously initiatives that try to improve the agriculture sector because the nation is looking to them to come up with solutions that can improve food security in Botswana. Recent reports by Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board have revealed that for the 2020-2021 harvest season they have received over a P100 million in harvest from local farmers, when I came across this information ladies and gentleman, I knew for sure that Batswana have the potential to turn things around for this sector hence the continuous need for companies in the agriculture sector to keep finding solutions to make things easy for farmers,” he said.
Mmusi added government initiatives to assist farmers need to be complimented. “Agriculture subsidy programmes by Agriculture ministry cannot fight to acquire a food secure nation on its own, so it truly makes me happy to witness the efforts by BHERO and AA. Through the BHERO55 initiative, AA will form a club and one of the key benefits of this club will be offering technical support and skills sharing spearheaded by a team of engineers at AA. To date one of the key factors that delays production is the breakdown of farm equipment, especially tractors compelling the government to keep extending the deadline of the end of the ploughing season and this on its own delays production and BHERO55 is bridging this gap.
“Ladies and gentleman a farm implement is a weapon for any farmer so AA is doing the most by assisting farmers to reach their full potential with proper serviced farm implements,” he said.
Explaining eligibility criteria for the programme, AA acting public relations officer, Patricia Tshephe said farmers should be accredited by AA through a vetting process.
“The programme will run in this manner; 55 successful applicants including women and young farmers will be enrolled in BHERO55 programme and for this to happen the farmer must be accredited by AA through a vetting process. Farmers who purchase the YTO/BHERO tractors are eligible. To qualify to be part of this prestigious programme, they have to be 100% citizens of Botswana,” she said.
BB and BUAN officials were present at the launch and hailed AA for the initiative and other programmes they have undertaken to support agricultural development.