Makgato-Malesu motivates for vibrant agro-processing industry
Onalenna Kelebeile | Thursday June 26, 2014 13:04
She opined at the SPEDU and National Food Technology Research Centre (NFTRC) open day recently that agro business should be one of the country’s major sectors of economy.
Makgato-Malesu wondered what would be the purpose of commercialising horticulture production if support for a vibrant agro processing industry cannot be created.
“The support is critical and it is one of the major reasons why Batswana are not engaged in agro processing enterprises.
Batswana have inadequate skills in food processing and have limited knowledge to identify opportunities in agro processing.
My hope is that NFTRC and SPEDU will give impetus to the agricultural production initiatives such as ISPAAD and LIMID by facilitating agro processing through provision of a comprehensive technology transfer service to our entrepreneurs,” she said.
She said that she expected NFRTC to act as a catalyst for transforming the innovative research results it has generated over the years in the form of prototype products into marketable industrial products and ensure that entrepreneurs access cutting-edge innovative technologies and equipment to process their products.
She said once established the food processing enterprises will require adequate support for maintenance of good manufacturing standards and achievement of high quality products that conform to international standards.
“I strongly believe that though the deployment of such technologies reduces some post harvest losses more still needs to be done to expand market for farmers, create employment, create local empowerment and wealth.
It is estimated that the post harvest losses in the Botswana Horticultural Market in Gaborone and farms around the country stands at 11 percent and nine percent respectively within developed agro processing enterprises.
Given the limited skills that farmers have in handling and processing horticultural produce the post harvest losses accounts for a fraction of the true amount of produce that are spoilt at the farm level.
“While local farmers continue to fall short of meeting local demand for fruits and vegetables a considerable amount of food is lost due to lack of agro processing.
This phenomenon is worrisome as farmers incur financial losses while the country continues to export thousands of jobs and millions of pula by importing food,” said Malesu.
She encouraged NFTRC to continue to lead the development of viable agro processing and other technologies for the various segments of the economy as well as small-scale individual processors.
“It is important that you forge partnerships with various stakeholders to utilise technology as a tool to ensure that Botswana can produce its own food, poverty eradication and economic diversification,” she added.
The event was intended to scout for possible partnerships and opportunities for economic diversification as well as to create awareness about the importance of the horticulture sector, opportunities to food processing industries, food business entrepreneurs, policy makers, financial institutions and the general public.