The P10 million irrigation project in Nxaraga will boost food production in Botswana by providing fruit trees and livestock feeds. The partners also want to spread their wings into agro-tourism by providing accommodation and promoting farm visitation due to abundant tourism potential in Nxaraga. The enterprising project, which is the only one of its kind in Ngamiland, is situated in Nxaraga about 20 kilometres from Maun. Explaining how the project started, Bezuidenhout said in 2015 he came to Botswana to begin a rotational commercial irrigation project. He then met Molefhi, a local farmer who agreed to avail his 500-hectare farm along the Nxaraga River for the project. The partnership then took off and soon they grew 50 hectares of maize.
Bezuidenhout said: “our operation was on trial and error basis as we experimented to see what crop was good for this area. There is no commercial farmer here to benchmark from”. Bezuidenhout said they also tried growing wheat, but the crop was not good for the area. Then they tried soya beans but their produce failed to get a market. He said these challenges did not stop them, as they have currently grown sugar beans. Further, they have grown 300 hectares of fruit trees such as mangoes, bananas and avocadoes. He explained that their main challenge is that there are no markets for their produce, adding that they also rely on diesel-generated electricity due to no power supplies in the area
