The coordinator of National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) says he is optimistic that the programme will achieve its goals.
Speaking during a one-day NAMPAADD stakeholders workshop at Sebele on Friday, Mr Gagoitsewe Moremedi said although much has not been achieved, he was optimistic that the programme, which has a horizon implementation period of 10 years, will pass the litmus test.
NAMPAADD was started in 2003 after a consultancy study to investigate the constraints affecting the three agricultural sub-sectors in which Botswana has been underperforming.These sub sectors are dairy farming, irrigated agriculture and rain fed farming.
He said phase one of the programme at Ramatlabama Rain Fed Production and Training Farm (PTF), NAMPAAD has recruited 64 pilot farmers, trained 155 extension workers and trained 334 farmers on minimum tillage, spacing density, sowing techniques, fertilisation, weed control, use of hybrid seeds and soil sampling.Mr Moremedi said phase two has a selection of 34 pilot and seven model farmers while 177 farmers and 375 extension workers were trained.He, however, outlined the challenges facing rain fed agriculture, which....
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Mookane and Shoshong residents doubt NAMPAADD success (05 August, 2003)
Mookane and Shoshong residents are pessimistic about the success of National Master Plan on Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD).
Residents expressed doubt about the success of NAMPAADD during kgotla meetings addressed by Assistant Minister of Agriculture Pelokgale Seloma.
Seloma briefed them on the new agricultural policy designed to improve food security and avoid dependency on neighbouring countries for the supply of agriculture products.
Mookane and Shoshong residents said NAMPAADD would not succeed because it was difficult for farmers to secure loans from CEDA and commercial banks.
They said while CEDA forms had many difficult requirements, commercial banks needed security and Batswana farmers did not have it.
They said CEDA did not approve applications of people who still have loans with SMME.
They alleged that CEDA rejected applications for rain fed agriculture.
They said Batswana farmers' security was their livestock because their lives were based on farming but commercial banks did not accept livestock as security.
Mookane residents said the requirement of a project memorandum made it impossible to access CEDA.
They said after the consultants have charged individuals for drawing up a project memorandum there was no guarantee that the applications would be approved However, Seloma told them that NAMPAADD was a programme that encouraged committed farmers to venture into commercial agriculture.
He added that if they treated NAMPAADD as business then they would know that for business to take off it required a business plan and market strategy.
Seloma also explained that Israelites were engaged because their climatic conditions were similar to Botswana's yet they produced enough food for the country and export.
He said NAMPAADD was introduced after realising that previous government assistant programmes did not produce satisfactory outcomes.
He said the government was concerned that a lot of money was spent importing agricultural products.
Seloma said there was no way Botswana could claim to be fully independent when it could not feed itself. BOPA
Residents expressed doubt about the success of NAMPAADD during kgotla meetings addressed by Assistant Minister of Agriculture Pelokgale Seloma.
Seloma briefed them on the new agricultural policy designed to improve food security and avoid dependency on neighbouring countries for the supply of agriculture products.
Mookane and Shoshong residents said NAMPAADD would not succeed because it was difficult for farmers to secure loans from CEDA and commercial banks.
They said while CEDA forms had many difficult requirements, commercial banks needed security and Batswana farmers did not have it.
They said CEDA did not approve applications of people who still have loans with SMME.
They alleged that CEDA rejected applications for rain fed agriculture.
They said Batswana farmers' security was their livestock because their lives were based on farming but commercial banks did not accept livestock as security.
Mookane residents said the requirement of a project memorandum made it impossible to access CEDA.
They said after the consultants have charged individuals for drawing up a project memorandum there was no guarantee that the applications would be approved However, Seloma told them that NAMPAADD was a programme that encouraged committed farmers to venture into commercial agriculture.
He added that if they treated NAMPAADD as business then they would know that for business to take off it required a business plan and market strategy.
Seloma also explained that Israelites were engaged because their climatic conditions were similar to Botswana's yet they produced enough food for the country and export.
He said NAMPAADD was introduced after realising that previous government assistant programmes did not produce satisfactory outcomes.
He said the government was concerned that a lot of money was spent importing agricultural products.
Seloma said there was no way Botswana could claim to be fully independent when it could not feed itself. BOPA
Commercial farming can succeed in Botswana (06 September, 2007)
GABORONE - Commercial farming has a future in Botswana if supportive systems and policies are put in place.
Dr Howard Sigwele, an agricultural and trade economic consultant, said at a recent NAMPAADD that conditions must be favourable for commercial rainfed horticulture and dairy farming to contribute to the economy.
These supportive systems include access to infrastructure, effective transfer of productive and appropriate technologies, appropriate sectoral and monetary policies, he said.
He maintained that farmers should have access to productive inputs, markets and financial assistance.Dr Sigwele said conflicts in policies, high tax, interest and inflation rates, together with over-valued currencies could affect commercial farming negatively.
He said competition laws had to be enforced to prevent smaller farmers from being pushed out of business both in the domestic and international markets.
They should be sustainable public and private investment in commercial farming ventures, he said. Effective pest and disease control must also be enforced to mitigate losses.
He advised that adequate trade safeguard mechanisms for small industries must also be implemented. BOPA
Dr Howard Sigwele, an agricultural and trade economic consultant, said at a recent NAMPAADD that conditions must be favourable for commercial rainfed horticulture and dairy farming to contribute to the economy.
These supportive systems include access to infrastructure, effective transfer of productive and appropriate technologies, appropriate sectoral and monetary policies, he said.
He maintained that farmers should have access to productive inputs, markets and financial assistance.Dr Sigwele said conflicts in policies, high tax, interest and inflation rates, together with over-valued currencies could affect commercial farming negatively.
He said competition laws had to be enforced to prevent smaller farmers from being pushed out of business both in the domestic and international markets.
They should be sustainable public and private investment in commercial farming ventures, he said. Effective pest and disease control must also be enforced to mitigate losses.
He advised that adequate trade safeguard mechanisms for small industries must also be implemented. BOPA
Politicians, technocrats a problem (10 September, 2007)
Mr Reatile said the agriculture sector could also form a centre piece of the economy of the town. He said the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) should provide something similar to Glen Valley where farmers could be provided with proper infrastructure to enable farmers in the Jwaneng area to produce.
JWANENG - Lack of innovation in planning is responsible for the concentration of developments and pressure on the city of Gaborone while the rest of the country remains underdeveloped, says Ngwaketse West MP.
Speaking Friday in an interview, Mr Mephato Reatile accused Botswana politicians and technocrats for failing to bring developments to the countryside, especially in the western part of the country, arguing that they are more concerned about Gaborone.
If it is not Gaborone, he said, development planners would rather consider towns and villages along the railway line.
What we are seeing is that our planners are only following the route of a British imperialist, Cecil John Rhodes, who built the railway line that linked the then Cape Colony and Rhodesia, he said.
Mr Reatile is critical of development planners, especially the technocrats and politicians whom he accused of failing to exploit the opportunities presented to Botswana by the Kgalagadi Desert.
He criticised them for neglecting Jwaneng, which he said was well known throughout the world for producing top-grade diamonds that were central to Botswanas economic success.
Jwaneng is the worlds richest diamond mine by value and contributes about 60 per cent of the Debswanas earnings according to the company.
Since diamond mining was commissioned in the early 1980s Botswana graduated from being one of the worlds poorest counties to a middle income status.
This rapid development is largely attributed to the impact of the Jwaneng Mine on the economy of Botswana. Mr Reatile said there was no excuse for denying Jwaneng the right to host the envisaged Diamond Park, but says this is due to the fact that technocrats always have Gaborone in mind thus depriving other parts of the country the right to gain monumental development.
He said he believed that the current thinking in Botswana was geared towards maintaining the status quo and was devoid of innovation. Because Jwaneng is not connected to the national railway line, it will never be considered suitable for development as an industrial town.
In his view, Jwaneng is ideal for industries as well as warehousing as it is a midway between Johannesburg in South Africa and Windhoek in Namibia and is closer to the Atlantic coast.
Mr Reatile said he was worried that Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and Botswana Exports Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) were not doing enough to market Botswana but instead are only concentrating on Gaborone and centers along the railway line.
He said he was disappointed that BDC and BEDIA were not doing enough to provide infrastructure in towns like Jwaneng which could stimulate industrialisation in the hinterland.
The lawmaker said Jwaneng, like Selebi-Phikwe, needed a contingency plan which would make the town economically sustainable after diamond mining was exhausted in future.
He challenged the Ministry of Lands and Housing to accord Jwaneng due attention as a measure to create a climate conducive for investment by servicing both residential and industrial plots as well as speeding up their allocation.
Mr Reatile said the agriculture sector could also form a centre piece of the economy of the town. He said the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) should provide something similar to Glen Valley where farmers could be provided with proper infrastructure to enable farmers in the Jwaneng area to produce.
The success of cattle, game ranching and arable farming, he said, could provide the foundation for the industrialisation of the town thus creating employment opportunities.
The legislator wants the government to decentralize many services from Gaborone and bring them closer to the people as another way of reducing pressure on Gaborone infrastructure and land. He is adamant that Jwaneng can be turned into a glittering desert city in the same way as Los Angeles in the United States of America.
The City of Los Angeles he contended, was established deep into the desert where there was no infrastructure but now it is one of the worlds famous cities because people who planned it had a vision of what they intended to achieve.
Mr Reatile said as Botswana was a vast country, it would not be fair to many citizens if developments are concentrated in the capital while citizens were distributed around the country with limited access to vital developments.
He added that the Kgalagadi part of Botswana has been sidelined for a long time despite the fact that it provides the bulk of the nations wealth through, diamonds, cattle and tourism.
The lawmaker believes the main reason why investors prefer Gaborone at the expense of rural and other urban centers emanates from the fact that government only has interest in the capital.
If the government has no interest in other places then no individual investor can.
Gaborone has suburbs called Phakalane, Mmokolodi and Notwane which are private and economically viable investments since they are closer to Gaborone. Nothing of this kind is possible anywhere else in the country because the government is not leading the way, he said.
Gaborone is everything to Botswana to an extent that the city seems to have eclipsed the country, he said. This should come to an end.
At present, Gaborone is not only regarded as Botswanas capital city but also an industrial city as well as the nations financial centre. BOPA
JWANENG - Lack of innovation in planning is responsible for the concentration of developments and pressure on the city of Gaborone while the rest of the country remains underdeveloped, says Ngwaketse West MP.
Speaking Friday in an interview, Mr Mephato Reatile accused Botswana politicians and technocrats for failing to bring developments to the countryside, especially in the western part of the country, arguing that they are more concerned about Gaborone.
If it is not Gaborone, he said, development planners would rather consider towns and villages along the railway line.
What we are seeing is that our planners are only following the route of a British imperialist, Cecil John Rhodes, who built the railway line that linked the then Cape Colony and Rhodesia, he said.
Mr Reatile is critical of development planners, especially the technocrats and politicians whom he accused of failing to exploit the opportunities presented to Botswana by the Kgalagadi Desert.
He criticised them for neglecting Jwaneng, which he said was well known throughout the world for producing top-grade diamonds that were central to Botswanas economic success.
Jwaneng is the worlds richest diamond mine by value and contributes about 60 per cent of the Debswanas earnings according to the company.
Since diamond mining was commissioned in the early 1980s Botswana graduated from being one of the worlds poorest counties to a middle income status.
This rapid development is largely attributed to the impact of the Jwaneng Mine on the economy of Botswana. Mr Reatile said there was no excuse for denying Jwaneng the right to host the envisaged Diamond Park, but says this is due to the fact that technocrats always have Gaborone in mind thus depriving other parts of the country the right to gain monumental development.
He said he believed that the current thinking in Botswana was geared towards maintaining the status quo and was devoid of innovation. Because Jwaneng is not connected to the national railway line, it will never be considered suitable for development as an industrial town.
In his view, Jwaneng is ideal for industries as well as warehousing as it is a midway between Johannesburg in South Africa and Windhoek in Namibia and is closer to the Atlantic coast.
Mr Reatile said he was worried that Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and Botswana Exports Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) were not doing enough to market Botswana but instead are only concentrating on Gaborone and centers along the railway line.
He said he was disappointed that BDC and BEDIA were not doing enough to provide infrastructure in towns like Jwaneng which could stimulate industrialisation in the hinterland.
The lawmaker said Jwaneng, like Selebi-Phikwe, needed a contingency plan which would make the town economically sustainable after diamond mining was exhausted in future.
He challenged the Ministry of Lands and Housing to accord Jwaneng due attention as a measure to create a climate conducive for investment by servicing both residential and industrial plots as well as speeding up their allocation.
Mr Reatile said the agriculture sector could also form a centre piece of the economy of the town. He said the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) should provide something similar to Glen Valley where farmers could be provided with proper infrastructure to enable farmers in the Jwaneng area to produce.
The success of cattle, game ranching and arable farming, he said, could provide the foundation for the industrialisation of the town thus creating employment opportunities.
The legislator wants the government to decentralize many services from Gaborone and bring them closer to the people as another way of reducing pressure on Gaborone infrastructure and land. He is adamant that Jwaneng can be turned into a glittering desert city in the same way as Los Angeles in the United States of America.
The City of Los Angeles he contended, was established deep into the desert where there was no infrastructure but now it is one of the worlds famous cities because people who planned it had a vision of what they intended to achieve.
Mr Reatile said as Botswana was a vast country, it would not be fair to many citizens if developments are concentrated in the capital while citizens were distributed around the country with limited access to vital developments.
He added that the Kgalagadi part of Botswana has been sidelined for a long time despite the fact that it provides the bulk of the nations wealth through, diamonds, cattle and tourism.
The lawmaker believes the main reason why investors prefer Gaborone at the expense of rural and other urban centers emanates from the fact that government only has interest in the capital.
If the government has no interest in other places then no individual investor can.
Gaborone has suburbs called Phakalane, Mmokolodi and Notwane which are private and economically viable investments since they are closer to Gaborone. Nothing of this kind is possible anywhere else in the country because the government is not leading the way, he said.
Gaborone is everything to Botswana to an extent that the city seems to have eclipsed the country, he said. This should come to an end.
At present, Gaborone is not only regarded as Botswanas capital city but also an industrial city as well as the nations financial centre. BOPA
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Moremedi happy with the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development progress
GABORONE - The coordinator of National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD) says he is optimistic that the programme will achieve its goals.Speaking during a one-day NAMPAADD stakeholders workshop at Sebele on Friday, Mr Gagoitsewe Moremedi said although much has not been achieved, he was optimistic that the programme, which has a horizon implementation period of 10 years, will pass the litmus test.NAMPAADD was started in 2003 after a consultancy study to investigate the constraints affecting the three agricultural sub-sectors in which Botswana has been underperforming.These sub sectors are dairy farming, irrigated agriculture and rain fed farming.He said phase one of the programme at Ramatlabama Rain Fed Production and Training Farm (PTF), NAMPAAD has recruited 64 pilot farmers, trained 155 extension workers and trained 334 farmers on minimum tillage, spacing density, sowing techniques, fertilisation, weed control, use of hybrid seeds and soil sampling.Mr Moremedi said phase two has a selection of 34 pilot and seven model farmers while 177 farmers and 375 extension workers were trained.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
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Headline: Mines' Boss Advises Kweneng Farmers
Link:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200708280459.html
27 August 2007: Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
General Manager for Orapa and Letlhakane diamond mines, Sebetela Sebetela has warned farmers in Lentsweletau, Kweneng District to swim or sink after they failed to devise ways to overcome this year's drought.
The mine manager sounded the alarm bells because only 12 of the area's over 700 farmers have harvested this season. Sebetela was speaking at the Kweneng North 2007 Agricultural show held in the village, 60km North-West of Gaborone.
The theme of the show was: "Drought is a Natural Disaster; Be Bold To Face Its Effects". It was a year of despair for farmers in the region as only 142 ploughed, compared to the usual 737 who planted 3047.04 hectares in the previous season. The Department of Crop Production says that out of the 142 who ploughed, only 12 harvested.
Three of the 12 got 157.5kg of groundnuts at Kgope, six harvested 750kg of cowpeas at Medie, while the remaining three from Botlhapatlou harvested 120kg of sorghum. Sebetela told the farmers that their farming methods are partly to blame for the poor harvest. He advised them to diversify their farming methods or perish. He warned the farmers against planting one crop and urged them to diversify.
"It is paramount to plant those crops like groundnuts, cowpeas, jugo beans, watermelons, that have proved to be drought resistant as evidenced by those farmers at Medie, Kgope and Botlhapatlou, who managed to harvest something from their fields," he advised. He suggested that the farmers should start vegetable and fruit production farming. "It is imperative that diversification should be part of our daily consideration. We should be practising good ranch management where we could rotate our livestock in ranch's paddocks," he said. He suggested that farmers should diversify into keeping small stock, which are drought resistant as compared to cattle. "Small stock provide all products like meat, milk, skins, just like cattle," he added.
He told the farmers to plant fodder for feeding livestock during drought. Sebetela said people should also look into alternatives such as poultry and piggery, which could be more beneficial than the traditional farming.
He said Kweneng North has been chosen as a pilot project for the implementation of the National Master Plan for Arable Agriculture and Dairy Development (NAMPAADD). He urged the 25 farmers chosen to pilot some of the technologies such as minimum tillage, plant population, pest control and moisture conservation, to adapt well to the new systems and be a source of information to others.
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