Hub courts Kenyans for Zambezi Agro-project
Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday June 25, 2014 06:59
Government will put up the infrastructure at the agro-project while private investors will be expected to drive the farming business.
“This project has an opportunity for agro-commercial business as about 40,000 square kilometres has been identified for farms which the Zambezi integrated Agro Commercial Project will irrigate,” he said at a business forum hosted by Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) on Monday.
Moabi said about 495 million cubic metres of water per year will be extracted from the Zambezi River to irrigate the Pandamatenga farms which covers an irrigable area of about 35,000 hectares and the identified land. He further said farmers could exploit the local market as Botswana imports most of its food while there are also opportunities of producing for export to other countries.
“Locally we are heavily dependent on imports as most crop production products like cereals, pulses, oil seeds as well as horticultural products are imported from other countries,” he noted.
He also cited some disappointments as he said cereals like sorghum’s national demand amount to 96,000 metric tonnes (mt) while only 54 percent of that is produced locally. On the fruit and vegetables production despite the 75,000mt demand only 48% is produced locally.
“We have about 110,000 rain fed farmers who are involved in traditional farming, commercial farming as well as the emerging farmers who farm for household and sell the extra,” he added.
Moabi told the delegation that the Zambezi Integrated Agro Commercial Project’s feasibility study is ongoing and the Ministry of Minerals Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) is coordinating the water conveyance infrastructure and the implementation of water transfer project, which is in two phases. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is responsible for the agricultural component.
The project, which is located 100 km away from Kazungula, is expected to start before second quarter of 2015.
The objective of the project is established to improve Botswana’s food security, diversify agriculture, create employment and meaningfully contribute to the country’s GDP. The three-day business forum included participants from the government, stakeholders, private sector as well as the Kenyan delegation. Both countries talk about the investment opportunities that exist within both markets.
The 17-member delegation, which was hosted by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) engaged in scheduled one on one meetings with prospective partners and companies. According to BITC, the sectors of focus for the mission which Botswana can leverage on to attract investment, will be agriculture, education, financial services, ICT, mining, tourism and hospitality, transport and logistics amongst others. This mission came as a follow up to the previous mission that was undertaken by Botswana Investment and Trade Centre and Botswana businesses to Kenya in October 2013.