What is troubling, however, are reports that some of the seeds planted in approximately 150 hectares are not germinating as expected. This comes at a time when the country is reeling from last year's devastating drought that cut the national yield immeasurably, especially staple cereals like sorghum and maize. The result was that instead of moving towards self-sufficiency in food production, Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) was compelled to look abroad to meet the massive deficit, pushing the food import bill back up.
In a terrible year for both man and beast, the drought not only reduced our harvest, but it also had a telling effect on the national cattle herd that suffered a high rate of attrition.The sordid affair of sterile seeds means the government has - once again - fallen prey to confidence tricksters masquerading as bona fide entrepreneurs. And as often happens in such seedy episodes (pun intended), it also means another heavy financial outlay to obtain what will hopefully be genuine articles that will germinate. It also means, and we dread to say it, that the possibility exists of someone lodged strategically inside government who is a part of the intrigue. Sadly, the utterances attributed to the Ministry of Agriculture sound disturbingly like those of pathetic losers who are used to being robbed. Farmers are being advised not buy seed from the sordid company, meaning it is business as usual for the enterprising scoundrels who can easily come in the guise of a different entity and perpetrate another scandal.
