Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) has put systems and processes in place for swift implementation of the new government initiative, Temo Letlotlo.
BAMB acting chief executive officer Mr Lameck Nthekela confirmed in an interview that they were ready to roll out the programme.
He said as an entity mandated to provide market for locally grown scheduled crops such as cereal, beans, and oilseeds and ensure that adequate supplies exist for sale to customers at affordable prices, and were ready for implementation of the new programme.
Mr Nthekela said BAMB, which is also a repository for grain from local farmers, as well as farm inputs such as fertilisers, has 39 branches nationwide with four main distribution centres at Pandamatenga, Francistown, Pitsane and Gaborone.
The entity has grain silos and warehouse facilities where fertilizers are stored and distributed to different branches nationwide.
“We are ready for distribution of fertilizers to farmers.
Mo nakong eno, re eme sentle re malala a laotswe go tlhokomela menontshane ya dijalo e e tlaa abelwang balemi ka fa tlase ga lenaneo le lesha le.
Re tlaa di fetisetsa kwa dikgotleng tsa motse mongwe mongwe re di atumetsa kwa Batswaneng gore mongwe le mongwe a akole ditirelo go sena ope yo re mo tlogelang kwa morago,” he said.
The acting CEO highlighted that they were also ready to store any surplus produce, adding that BAMB maintained 24 silos with a carrying capacity of 5 000 metric tonnes of grains each.
He added that recently government constructed 12 new silos under Special Economic Zones (SEZA) at Pandamatenga to bring the total number of silos at Pandamatenga to 18.
“Currently, we have a capacity of 90 000 metric tonnes at Pandamatenga.
Francistown has six silos at 5 000 tonnes each, which translates to 30 metric tonnes. Pitsane has five, which translates to 25 metric tonnes carrying capacity,” he said.
At this juncture, he said the 12 SEZA silos at Pandamatenga were not yet complete and contained no grain as yet.
Mr Nthekela said sorghum stored by BAMB currently stood at 13 000 metric tonnes against a minimum of 10 000 metric tonnes.
Maize stored was 7 000 metric tonnes against a minimum of 5 000 metric tonnes.
As for pulses there was 3 000 metric tonnes stored against a minimum of 2 000 metric tonnes. He added that the storage was above minimal levels in all products.
He said there was shortage of sorghum nationwide attributed to low sorghum harvest due to poor rainfall in the last ploughing season, explaining that when yield was low, the law of supply and demand dictated that sorghum price goes up, hence the need to encourage Batswana to embrace Temo Letlotlo to reap better results, and produce more.
He said silos had been prepare ready to assist farmers, adding, if harvest far exceeded the target, BAMB was ready to find market for produce internationally.
He had no doubt on implementation, saying BAMB had the right human resource capital in place such as agronomists, quality assurance specialists, and many others to deal with systems and processes or any other challenges that may arise to ensure swift implementation on their part.
Thus he encouraged Batswana to register in good numbers for Temo Letlotlo, which covered everyone from household micro farmers to large scale commercial farmers.
For More News And Analysis About Botswana Follow Africa-Press
