Botswana: Only Seven Percent Land is Good for Farming - Phiri

All Africa, 28 October 2009

By Ephraim Keoreng

      “Gaborone — The Ministry of Agriculture is working on a proposal asking Cabinet to make land readily available to citizens.

Speaking at a panel discussion on food security organised by the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) in Gaborone, land boards director Moremi Phiri said although the country is in a position to supply everyone with land, only seven percent of land is suitable for farming.

So the challenge is availability of suitable land for farming, Phiri says, pointing out that though Botswana has a vast land mass, only seven percent of it is suitable for arable production, hence there are challenges as the population grows.

“The challenge is commercialisation intensification and using fertiliser so that the land sustains itself. We are providing opportunities for sub-leasing of land, especially for the youth so that they can farm and help in producing food,” he said.

To make sure water is available, landboards are lending a hand in ensuring that “boreholes are drilled with ease” in farming areas.

“We believe land is available to all Batswana, but the challenge is whether land, in its form, is enough to attract investors to come and use it for commercial farming. We are thinking of converting some of the land for freehold,” he said.

Another panelist, Chada Koketso, head of poverty policy coordination, pointed out that global food prices have been on the increase in the past three years, rising by a record 86 percent at some stage. She said they affected southern Africa where South Africa has seen a 30 percent increase in diary products, whilst bread registered a 19 percent rise.

“This means that Botswana is no exception. We are affected because we are a net importer and a small open economy. What affects the region, affects us, she said.

She added that rising food prices erode the purchasing power of most of the poor in society. She said that government has social safety nets in place to address the situation and ensure that these groups are cushioned from the drastic effects of the food price hikes.

Programme officer at (FOCCISA) Fellowship of Christian Councils in East and Southern Africa Simon Vilakadzi spoke about the impact of climate change on food availability. He added that precipitation and length of growing seasons, where there are long spans of heat waves, “there would be mosquito and locusts which eat crops. The promotion of bi-fuels is another threat to food security. Vilakadzi said that there is too much effort by farmers to produce bio-fuels at the expense of food. He said in Africa small farmers are enticed by multinational corporations to grow bio-fuels and because of the profitability of the endeavour, they ditch food production, hence threatening food security in Africa.

On the nutritional dimension of food security, UB nutrition lecturer Dr Maria Nnyepi said that in a research they conducted in the Okavango panhandle, which covers areas like Mohembo, about 98 percent of the people interviewed said most of the time they were worried that food would run out any time.”

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200910290352.html

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