the monitor

Agriculture sector’s downtrend continues

Trying times: The El Nino phenomenon is expected to return this year, drying up the rain season and raising the occurrence of heat waves
Trying times: The El Nino phenomenon is expected to return this year, drying up the rain season and raising the occurrence of heat waves

Worries are mounting as Botswana’s agricultural sector continues to be buffeted by year in and year out crop and livestock failure rates, limiting its contribution to the economy.

Between its prime years as the country’s central economic activity, the contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has dropped from 40% in 1966 to just three percent last year.

GDP is a widely used measure of economic output and activity. While government has mounted sterling efforts to resuscitate the sector, these have been met with growing climate challenges.

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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