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End of an era: ISPAAD expires after 14 years

Sour end: ISPAAD ended on a bitter note after a stalemate between tractor owners and government over tillage rates for this season. The row resulted in may tractor owners parking their vehicles and forcing farmers to pay out of pocket for diesel The total hectarage planted by communal farmers this season is thus expected to be noticeably lower than previous seasons PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Sour end: ISPAAD ended on a bitter note after a stalemate between tractor owners and government over tillage rates for this season. The row resulted in may tractor owners parking their vehicles and forcing farmers to pay out of pocket for diesel The total hectarage planted by communal farmers this season is thus expected to be noticeably lower than previous seasons PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

“For me, ISPAAD was a waste of money. We gave funds to people and some of them still wound up going into Ipelegeng,” says Assistant Agriculture minister, Molebatsi Molebatsi

Assistant Agriculture minister, Molebatsi Molebatsi is speaking to a room mostly composed of smallholder farmers and those involved in the agriculture supply chain such as seed and fertiliser manufacturers. It is unlikely that communal farmers, the primary targets of ISPAAD, are in the room and thus to an extent, a “safe space” exists to detonate some truth bombs.

“We have taken a decision to commercialise agriculture, although we will still support those that need to be subsidised,” Molebatsi says.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

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