Africa-Press – Botswana. Stakeholders at the Global Expo Botswana have called for strengthening the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) and reforms to unlock the full potential of agriculture.
Farmers want the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) strengthened to address persistent institutional inefficiencies affecting the agricultural sector.
Speaking at the recent Global Expo Botswana, the CEO of Pandamatenga Farmers, Lillian Scheepers, said reforming BAMB should go beyond funding or provision of inputs such as seeds and fertilisers.
Scheepers said the country must “go back to basics” by developing a national crop plan, empowering farmers of all sizes to ensure that they have the capacity and skills to farm effectively.
Operational bottlenecks
“Botswana has the total capacity to produce everything the country needs and much more to supply the region and the world,” she said.
Scheepers acknowledged the government’s renewed focus on agriculture but said long-standing operational bottlenecks must first be addressed.
She cited delayed payments to farmers, which undermine productivity and trust, as well as the impact of cheap, low-grade imports on local producers.
Largest share of projects
“It is good to look forward to future growth, but right now we must urgently address serious institutional inefficiencies,” she said.
She added that before investments in agro-processing or expansion of agricultural output can succeed, existing challenges within BAMB and other key institutions must be resolved.
Also speaking at the show, Senior Policy Advisor in the Ministry of Finance, Naledi Madala, said agriculture remains central to Botswana’s economic transformation agenda.
15,000 jobs by 2028
Under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), agriculture accounted for the largest share of proposals – 1,896 out of nearly 6,924 submitted projects.
Of these, 26 have been shortlisted for implementation, including the flagship Moringa Agriculture-Based Cluster, which aims to create more than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2028 through a P6 million investment.
Key focus area for funding
The CEO of Absa Bank Botswana, Keabetswe Pheko-Moshagane, said agribusiness is a key focus area for the bank, aligning with national diversification priorities.
“We see these as central to long-term growth, and we intend to actively participate in them,” she said.
But despite the optimism, challenges such as high input costs, limited irrigation, and dependence on rain-fed farming continue to constrain productivity.
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