First-borns devolve into black sheep
Mbongeni Mguni | Thursday April 17, 2014 14:57
A few years ago, a Cabinet minister told a mining conference that while the government appreciated their contribution to the economy, the “apple of the national eye” would always be agriculture.
And with sound grounds. At Independence, Botswana was a windswept wilderness with a per capita Gross Domestic Product of approximately US$70. Agriculture was the economic mainstay of the 550,000 or so population, which determined the settlement pattern.
Subsistence farming provided an economic backbone for households although the success of commercial agriculture was limited by infrastructure and climatic challenges.
However, it is this agrarian society that produced the labour and basic skills required to fully exploit the mineral boom triggered by the discovery of small, shiny stones in the sands of the Motloutse River in 1954.
While attention quickly swayed to the newborn, authorities never forgot the first born who had led the economy through the unsteady days after Independence and who – for most households – was still the principal source of income.
As policy shifted towards facilitating the growth of mining and its numerous economic spinoffs, agriculture was never forgotten, with a range of initiatives across the decades designed to improve its performance and relevance. A World Bank report made available from Washington this week, indicates that in terms of water productivity, agriculture has been piggy-backing on more productive sectors such as transport, trade and tourism. In fact, while agriculture has consumed the majority of the country’s scarce water resources over the decades, it has contributed the least to the economy, when compared to other sectors.
The report, covering research from 1991 to 2012, is part of the Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystems Services (WAVES) project, which aims to promote sustainable development by ensuring that natural resources are mainstreamed in development planning and national economic accounts.
By carefully accounting and even pricing natural resources such as water and its consumption, the WAVES project hopes to influence policymakers’ economic planning and prioritisation. “In terms of sector water consumption, agriculture consumes a large amount of water but contributes little to GDP and formal employment,” WAVES researchers note. “The mining sector makes a large contribution to GDP and consumes a significant amount of water. Its contribution to formal direct employment is limited due to the capital intensive nature of mining. “The service sectors make a large contribution to GDP and employment and use a modest amount of water.” The World Bank does, however, note that agricultural activities support “a large share of informal employment, providing a social service”.
According to the World Bank’s findings, in 2011 alone, agricultural activities accounted for 44 percent of all abstraction – water removal from source – followed in the distance by households and mining.
“Two conclusions emerge,” says the World Bank. “The opportunity costs of agricultural water need to be carefully considered in development planning. These are generally low for the livestock sector, but could be high for irrigation. “Secondly, water consumption and requirements should be considered as part of the economic diversification and trade policies. “
The WB’s researchers add: “From an Integrated Water Resources Management perspective, diversification should favour the service sectors and trade policies must recognise Botswana’s comparative disadvantage in water resources.” For locals, however, the survey results count for the little, especially given their emphasis on “formal employment”. Agriculture for years has been the leading contributor of informal and semi-formal employment, as well as the major economic activity for non-urban areas. In fact, some estimates suggest that agricultural activities provide a livelihood for more than 80% of the population.
“My siblings and I grew up in the fields, working alongside the older folks,” recalls Keletso Regoeng, a 45 year-old admin officer who describes himself as “a born and bred Mokwena”. “Whatever excess was produced from the fields would be sold and that money would purchase whatever we did not produce. Our parents told us that in their years, the choices were the fields or the mines in South Africa. “Agriculture made me who I am today.”
For others however, agriculture has slowly become a “spoilt brat” unwilling to wean itself off government support and take its place in the spectrum of economic activities.
“I feel government has done more than enough for those who want to continue communal farming, but with limited national revenues in future, funding should go more towards education than elsewhere,” says Yvonne Mathe, a first-year student in secretarials. “The farmers have failed to make our country self-sufficient in so many commodities and today we are fed by South Africa. On top of that, they also want more support such as infrastructure and insurance. “They had their opportunity but now it’s time for other sectors to receive priority.” The World Bank is proposing a few solutions to the situation, in so far as value-adding natural resource management is concerned.
“NDP 11 should contain a detailed wastewater reuse strategy and reuse efforts need to be accelerated by the agriculture ministry and the Water Utilities Corporation,” the research study reads.
The country’s “first-born” is being challenged to step up and claim its stake in ongoing transition to a modern service-sector driven economy.