Crop production rises threefold � De Graaff
Keikantse Lesemela | Wednesday December 17, 2014 19:39
Agriculture minister Christiam De Graff said current crop production stood at 220 000 metric tonnes in the year, of which 125 000 metric tonnes were cereal, as compared to a total production of 64 980 metric tonnes, and 33755 metric tonnes respectively in 2012/2013. De Graaff revealed this during a recent media briefing in Gaborone.
He also noted horticulture had great potential for growth. “We have seen the number of commercial farmers increase from 26 in 2008 to 80 in 2012 before successively increasing to 183 in 2014. The ministry is doing all it can to support horticulture growth,” he said. De Graaff further said in the previous season 2013-2014, a total of 417 000 hectares were planted by more than 127 thousand farmers. This translated into a 113 percent increase of area planted compared to 2012-2013.
He added that government continued to support farmers through the ISPAAD program, by providing inputs such as fertilisers, herbicides and seeds.
In this ploughing season a total of 4481 tonnes of fertiliser and 853.31 tonnes of seeds were dispatched across districts, for distribution to farmers. “As a way of improving efficiency and service delivery, our ministry has decided to issue farmers with coupons to enable them to source fertilisers, seeds and herbicides from selected suppliers such as Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board. I appeal to farmers to take advantage of the early rains by planting early maturing crop varieties,” he said.
De Graaff added that one of the ministry’s strategies to grow the sector was through restriction of horticulture imports. He explained that this would ensure market access for farmers, adding that high value crops such as potatoes and tomatoes were previously imported in huge quantities. “The same protection is extended to cereals. However these protections are short lived and I want to urge farmers to produce goods of good quality so that they stay competitive,” he said.
The ISPAAD programme was introduced several years ago, to replace the Arable Land Development Programme (ALDEP).
The ISPAAD programme was introduced to address challenges facing arable farmers and the inherent low productivity of the arable sub-sector, through enhancing technology adoption such as use of hybrid seed, fertiliser and secondary tillage. When the programme was introduced in 2008, the cereal output stood at only 55,000 metric tonnes but later increased to 118,000 metric tonnes in 2011.
The development of the Zambezi Agro-commercial project is expected to add another 30,000 hectares of land for arable production, which will be partly irrigated. The project is also expected to enhance private sector participation in agri-business.