Africa-Press – Botswana. Acting Minister of Entrepreneurship has encouraged farmers in Botswana to change their mindset and emulate the Mmadinare Multi-purpose Cooperative Society and form clusters in their respective areas.
Speaking at a joint press conference hosted by Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC) in Gaborone on March 14, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi said farmers should borrow a leaf from the Mmadinare Multipurpose Cooperative
Society who decided to lease 1 500 of their 1 720-hectare Mannaesi Farm for a purpose-driven initiative, aligning with national interests and securing benefits for future generations.
Mr Molebatsi said cluster development remained key in enhancing the agricultural landscape for continuous positive results at local, regional and international markets.
He said owing to opportunities offered by the Selebi Phikwe Citrus project, as one of the significant achievements to enhance the agriculture sector in Botswana, it was therefore important for farmers to work together and pursue more of such initiatives in their areas on various aspects of agricultural production.
“By forming clusters farmers can pool resources, share knowledge and expertise, reduce costs and also improve overall productivity in agriculture,” he said.
He added that the agriculture sector played an important role in the country’s economy because it also created jobs, contributed significantly to food security and aided in efforts to minimise the country’s reliance on imported products.
He said obstacles such as insufficient resources and other support services, hindered farmers’ ability to meet some of the targets efficiently, hence the need for continued collaborative efforts to explore and embrace cluster development.
Mr Molebatsi said cluster development was a game-changer that would give farmers chance to have a collective voice, benchmark against one another and come up with creative strategies to increase yield and improve food security.
“It also fosters a sense of resilience and sustainability in the agricultural sector. Cluster development promotes collaboration and knowledge exchange and further provides a platform for mitigating risks connected with crop failure, pests and other crop-related difficulties,” he added.
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