New Agric policy pushes commercialisation

Mmegi: Give us the background of the policy?

Shatera: Botswana first formulated a national policy on agricultural development in 1991. At the time, identified development objectives aimed to improve food security, diversify the production base, increase output and productivity, increase employment, and provide a secure and productive environment for producers as well as the conservation of agricultural land resources for future generations. An analysis of the evolution of policy objectives since independence shows that the major policy shift was the abandonment of the food self-sufficiency stance and its replacement with the broader food security strategy in 1991. While food self sufficiency means promotion of domestic production of food-grains at all cost, food security is ‘when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life’