Tonota women pioneer coffee farming in Botswana

PINI BOTHOKO
Correspondent | Monday August 12, 2013 00:00

 

Elizabeth Selogelo 58 and Motlalepula Raditshaba 57 are in their second season of commercial coffee farming after planting last year. The two have been farmers since their teens. At the recent Tonota Agricultural Show, experts and patrons were surprised when the two displayed their coffee products.They held a coffee-tasting session for the attendants at the show. By the look of things, it was good coffee as people kept coming for more and asking where they can find such pleasant tasting and fresh coffee.

Selogelo said that she planted the coffee beans after she got them from a woman who said that she picked them at Impala Agricultural Research offices in Francistown.'I introduced the coffee to my sister Raditshaba. We are married in the same family and we decided to plough it for business. We started with four hectares last year and took the products to the agriculture show here and people loved it. That is when we realised that it can be a good business for us,' she said.Selogelo said that this year they want to plant five hectares because the demand is high and planting coffee is easy because the beans do not need much watering.

'Coffee is profitable as it can be harvested more than three times in a year. As soon as it rains, it simply germinates again and develops flowers just like lab-lab. It does not need much attention like sorghum where you will be forced to be there to prevent birds from eating it. You only have to protect it with pesticides as pests love it,' said Selogelo. She said it takes three months to harvest the coffee beans, which they dry and pound in a mortar using pestle. The powder is then packaged and sold. 'People love this coffee because it is not strong as compared to other coffees. It does not have caffeine,' she said.

Their market however, is still small as it only consits of the people in Tonota and surrounding areas that frequent their homesteads to purchase the coffee.She said that the majority of people who had stopped drinking tea citing its addictiveness have since joined the coffee drinking bandwagon as it is not strong.'We want to start marketing it more by going to exhibitions. We also want to go and sell it in Francistown. We anticipate that in the city, we can have a lot of customers and our business will flourish,' she said.

She said that they are currently using their hands to process the coffee but they need a machine for the task to speed up their supply to the markets.'We spend most of the time harvesting it, pounding and making it into powder by hand. So, really, a machine will suffice.We really need someone who can help us with a machine,' Selogelo said.She hopes that in five years, their coffee will be sold in supermarkets. 'We want this coffee to be a big business to us and help us feed our families as we are old and no longer able to get employment. We derive our income from the products that we sell like cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, green pepper, and beetroots,' she said. Besides, the two farmers produce yoghurt using milk and colorants.

Meanwhile, Tonota Sub-District Crop Production Officer, Eunice Madisa says they have realised the cofffe from the two farmers can improve the economy of Botswana. 'It has a good taste and does not have caffeine,' she said.Madisa said that they once took a sample to National Food Technology Research Centre (NAFTEC) for testing where it was given the thumbs up and they encourage farmers to consider planting it. 'We will help them where necessary as a government but also currently we plead with anyone to help them with a processing machine,' said Madisa.