Agriculture: The future is smart and innovative
Baboki Kayawe | Friday December 18, 2015 15:03
As the ugly effects of global warming continue to wreck havoc in semi-arid Botswana, government is pinning its hopes on the climate deal that emerged from the recently ended Paris Conference of the Parties 21 (COP21) global climate change event.
Moreover, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama believes the conference presented insights on how to strengthen the country’s climate change policy, which is due for completion in April.
He is also optimistic the policy will be consistent with what Botswana agreed to at COP21.
Climate financing, as announced at the Paris conference, is a critical outcome as adaptation and mitigation measures come at a hefty price. Botswana estimates that its own interventions will cost in the region of $18.4 billion, most of this going towards initiatives in energy, transport and agriculture.
In Paris, countries committed to providing $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020, with an agreement of more funds to be availed thereafter, said Khama.
The country’s blueprint to contain the devastating effects of climate change in the agriculture sector includes improving the genetic characteristics of livestock breeds such as Musi as well as upgrading livestock diets through supplementary feeding. In addition, the interventions in agriculture include a switch to drought resistant crops that have a higher tolerance of high temperatures and shorter maturities.
In fact, the Musi breed is the forerunner of Botswana’s climate change interventions and one of the country’s proudest achievements in drought resistant animal research. The breed is a result of selective breeding designed to ultimately produce an end product that optimises the overall efficiency for beef production under Botswana conditions. The Department of Agricultural Research did the extensive research that dragged for more than two decades.
At the launch of the breed in 2011, authorities in the department noted that: “The impact of climate change on extensive production systems now requires that livestock breeds should have high tolerance and adaptability to more challenging environmental conditions.”
Khama, this week, said funding for climate change interventions in Botswana was on the way.
“The Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund are the Funding Mechanisms of the Climate Change Convention. Discussions with governing institutions have started,” he said.
To access funding the country needs to nominate focal points to receive funds and for Botswana, these have been nominated. The process of identifying a National Designated Authority is also a requirement for funding.
“This process is ongoing and it should be finalised by the end of January 2016,” the minister said.
Under the Green Climate Fund Readiness Programme, Botswana is eligible for $300,000. Currently, government is identifying National Implementing Entities through which the funding needs to be disbursed.
“Government will ensure that support reaches ordinary Batswana whose livelihoods are climate dependant by providing resources leveraged from climate finance to interventions such as the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Farming (NAMPAAD), Climate Smart Agriculture and others.”
In addition, Botswana would look to China for a partner in smarter agriculture. The recently announced China-Africa agricultural modernisation plan is another area of cooperation where Botswana could practice innovative agriculture amidst the climate change storm.
Post the Johannesburg Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Chinese Ambassador to Botswana, Zheng Zhuqiang said though assistance rendered to any country would depend on respective countries’ proposals, Botswana would benefit greatly from water and agriculture interventions.
Under the agriculture aid, China will for a three-year period share its experience in agricultural development with Africa and transfer readily applicable technologies.
“China is greatly concerned about the poor harvest caused by El Nino in many African countries,” he said.