Botswana breaks harvest record

He told Gobojango residents last Thursday that the country has never reached the harvest mark before. However, he expressed concern over the tendency by some farmers to abandon their farms after benefiting from government agricultural programmes. "We have informed agriculture officers to monitor such farmers and strike them out of the programmes. We want to help people who take agriculture seriously, not just throw government money down the drain," he said.

He added that government will increase the number of tractors and curb incidences where the ploughing season passes before some farmers have tilled their plots. Private tractor owners will still be hired by government. On regular intervals, soils will be tested in different areas to identify those that need fertilisers. He said not all areas can be supplied with fertilisers because of the high cost but places like Bobirwa will be given priority given its poor soil quality.