The right to food: Botswana’s unfulfilled promise
Friday, January 23, 2026 | 60 Views |
Basic needs: Quality nutrition is a perennial challenge throughout Africa PEOPLESIMAGES.COM
With food prices soaring and unemployment rampant, Olerato Montsho’s story is a stark reminder of Botswana's crippling food insecurity crisis."I'm forced to buy whatever is cheapest," says Montsho* her eyes welling up with tears. "My son is always sick, and I know it is because he is not eating right."
Montsho's plight is a familiar one in Botswana, where 49.4% of the population faces moderate to severe food insecurity. The country's reliance on imports and lack of investment in local agriculture has worsened the problem over the years.
According to both the acting director of Veterinary Services, Kobedi Segale and acting Lands and Agriculture minister, Edwin Dikoloti, the virus currently raging through the North-East mostly likely first entered the country during the festive season.From the “unprecedented” number of cases picked in testing last week, it is likely that cattle and other livestock could have been infected last year, without being reported.Animal health...