Batswana urged to grow indigenous fruit trees

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Wednesday February 17, 2010 00:00

Speaking to Mmegi during an interview, Seloma said that indigenous trees bear nutritious fruit and that growing them will not only improve the diet of locals but will also help preserve them.

'After acquiring my farming plot, it came to my mind that I could not plant exotic fruit-trees at the expense of indigenous ones like other farmers,' he said.

Seloma grows local fruit-trees such as mmilo, mumpudu, motongolo, moretologa, morula, morojwa, mogorogwana and motsentsele on his farm in the Bokaa/Morwa area and he currently has over a thousand plants. He said that ever since he planted the trees in his five-hectare field, he has not suffered any loss, which he believes is an encouraging sign.  The 75-year-old farmer said he hopes that he will be able to reap his first harvest in five years' time. The farmer pointed out that unlike exotic trees, indigenous trees do not need a lot of water to survive because they are adapted to Botswana's dry climate.

He revealed that he once had a nursery in Bokaa where he would grow local trees and sell them to individuals but soon realised that the venture was not viable.

Seloma said he was inspired to grow indigenous trees by a certain white man called Taylor who has a successful wild-tree orchard in Gabane.

'I realised we, as Batswana needed to preserve indigenous trees more than Taylor and that is what motivated me to start the project,' Seloma said.

The farmer, said he believes that in the near feature, indigenous fruit will become more popular in the market as Batswana are starting to appreciate them.

He also pointed out that people in rural areas have already discovered a lucrative market in selling indigenous fruit to urbanites.

This he said, reminded him of those times in the past when Batswana indulged a lot in indigenous fruit, which they ate either fresh or in the dry form. Seloma explained that in yesteryears, a fruit such as mogwagwa would be dried to be used as nourishment in winter.  He said that women would lump it into a cake and dry it as a way of preservation. The veteran farmer has worked for the Ministry of Agriculture for a number of years.