Vegetable ban 12 months later
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday December 26, 2022 06:00
A lot has happened in these 12 months and there is more to look out for in this sector as the government looks to implement different programmes that are designed to improve food security at national and household levels.
Looking back, the ban which came into effect on January 1, 2022, targeted 16 vegetables such as onion, butternut, tomato, watermelon, carrot, potato, cabbage and ginger. The ban was intended to support local farmers, increase national food security by encouraging local vegetable production and improve horticulture competitiveness.
The ban was also meant to alleviate climate change effects, develop the agriculture value chain and foster citizen empowerment. In February, a month into the ban, the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) estimated that local production of the 16 crops restricted from being imported into the country, will have to be more than doubled to meet the local demand.
At the time, local production of potatoes accounted for 49% of the national demand while tomatoes accounted for 44% of the national demand and onions 49%. Back then, commercial farmers in Pandamatenga told this publication that they had enough capacity, infrastructure and expertise to more than meet the nation’s demand for horticultural products.
However, they said for vegetable production to thrive particularly in the Pandamatenga area, irrigation is necessary because of the uneven distribution of rainfall throughout the year, especially during critical crop growth periods.
Shortly after the ban, local consumers complained of shortages of the three vegetables and others with experts saying the restrictions had exposed the supply chain weaknesses between local producers and major retailers.
Apart from shortages, the ban escalated prices and worsened consumers’ predicament. Consumers also complained that where local production is available, the quality was not always up to standard.
The supply chain weaknesses meant the unreliable availability of key vegetables such as tomatoes, onions and potatoes. The high vegetable prices forced farmers to channel more resources to farming the banned vegetables, therefore, increasing output to fill the supply gap induced by the import ban. This then led to an increase in supply and the subsequent fall in prices of most of the banned vegetables. Complaints of poor quality and shortages were still being raised by consumers.
In April, the ban on the importation of these vegetable varieties into the country from South Africa and other veggie-export countries started keeping the police on their toes with smugglers eluding border authorities to bring vegetables into the country.
Agriculture Minister Fidelis Molao had indicated earlier that the vegetable import ban is not only "here to stay" but will possibly be expanded to include more produce in the next two years. In August President Mokgweetsi Masisi revealed at the Botswana Democratic Party congress in Tsabong that Botswana was then able to meet over 70% of the national demand for potatoes and tomatoes. “I stand here today proud to report back to you that our implementation is bearing fruit. We have made strides in the right direction and managed to achieve several projects. We launched the horticulture scheme where government pays 50% for agricultural initiatives.
The limiting of importation of certain agricultural products is intended to encourage you all to go into agricultural production in a significant way,” he highlighted. Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month, President Masisi revealed that he was confident that the vegetable import ban will bear fruit in the long run and make up for the previous huge vegetable import bill. Masisi highlighted that they need to make up for the huge vegetable and fruit import bill and mature to export to other countries.
Speaking of import bills, the latest Statistics Botswana food import bill of August released on November 3, shows that Botswana saved millions after the introduction of the ban but still lost P78 million on preparing vegetables, fruits, nuts or other parts of plants.
The veggie import is on certain vegetables, therefore, the remaining ones have now cost Botswana P15.1 million which is about 1.5 percent of the total food import bill that stands at P1 billion as of August this year. Even though the veggie import ban reduced the national food import bill, Botswana still loses a lot of money on importing fruits.
The August bill further shows that about P31.8 million has been spent on importing fruits and nuts, edible; peel of citrus fruit or melons. As the ban moves into a second year, last month during SONA, Masisi admitted that he was aware that consumers continue to encounter challenges of under-supply and increased costs of some fruits and vegetables.
He said there are at times challenges of oversupply which, while beneficial to the customer in terms of price, negatively affect the producer. Masisi added that he believes that as the market matures, this will stabilise. He also implored wholesalers, retailers and consumers to ensure compliance with new government policies to support and grow farmers countrywide.
Speaking of new government policies, the acting Minister of Agriculture Molebatsi Molebatsi this week presented the second Transitional National Development Plan and indicated that his ministry requires P969 million to execute its mandate under the Human and Social Development.
Molebatsi disclosed that the government will launch Temo Letlotlo, which is a new transformative and output-based arable programme aimed at promoting food security. He said Temo Letlotlo will do so by ensuring that micro-scale farmers can produce enough output to contribute significantly to their household food consumption needs; promoting commercial production of grain by improving access to inputs, credit and other essential services.
“The programme will promote inclusivity in agricultural production by building rainfed agricultural production systems that are youth, disability and gender sensitive. In addition, the programme will improve the social capital base by promoting collective bargaining of rainfed producers,” he told Parliament on Monday. Besides the new programme, Molebatsi added that his ministry will continue with the implementation of the Impact Accelerated Subsidy (IAS) initiative through the National Development Bank.
He highlighted that the initiative assists horticultural farmers with a protected environment, open field irrigation system, reservoir, borehole equipping, inputs, solar power, electricity connection and pack house.
He said the government will implement projects amongst others the Zambezi Integrated Agro-Commercial Development. “The Zambezi Integrated Agro-Commercial Development Project is a 40,000-hectare project aimed at establishing viable commercial agriculture capable of contributing meaningfully to the country’s GDP and creating direct employment for approximately 3,000 people.
To date, government has engaged a Transaction Advisor through the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct a feasibility study and recommend a Public Private Partnership implementation model by November 2024,” he further highlighted. He concluded that his ministry will continue with the formulation of agricultural policies, promotion of sustainable agricultural production and an export-oriented sector to achieve food security, economic growth and employment creation.