Ploughing season extended amid FMD outbreak
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday February 9, 2023 17:26
In Botswana like in most parts of Africa, most small-scale farmers practise arable and pastoral farming and they depend on rainfall to water their crops.
Arable farmers in NED have taken advantage of the government's extension of the ploughing season, says Kelebogile Mosarwe, MoA’s public relations officer in the north east.
Initially, Mosarwe said the ploughing season was supposed to end on February 16 but was extended to February 22 with the expectation of good rains. “From our observation, most farmers in the district have planted their fields even in areas where there was an outbreak of FMD last year. The planting season was extended because of delayed rains in the northern parts of Botswana,” Mosarwe explained.
Mosarwe stated that most farmers in the NED are using tractors to plough while some are using draught power (donkeys) to till their land. In the midst of the phenomenon of climate change (long-term shifts in temperatures and weather pattern), Mosarwe encouraged farmers to till their land in order to benefit from Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD).
ISPAAD is a programme in which farmers receive inputs ranging from tillage to fertilisers from MoA. Recently, MoA revealed that ISPAAD will be replaced by a new programme, Temo Letlotlo, which is tailor-made to cope with climate change. “Farmers can benefit from raw planning and harrowing their fields amongst other benefits,” Mosarwe stated.
He also encouraged the farmers to plant short term variety seeds because they mature earlier than other crops, adding, “Farmers should survey their fields for any pests that may be present so that they may be assisted accordingly.”