Africa-Press – Botswana. Parliament has adopted a motion requesting government to prioritise provision of water to the farming areas for agricultural purposes.
The amended motion was tabled before Parliament recently by Kgatleng East MP, Mr Mabuse Pule. Initially, before being amended, the motion requested for government to consider providing financial and technical assistance to farmers across Botswana for the drilling of boreholes in their farms to enhance water access for agricultural purposes.
When tabling the motion, MP Pule said the request for adoption of the motion was premised on the fact that water was a vital natural resource that helped to bring about desirable outputs in the agricultural sector and developments to countries’ economies.
“Many countries are providing farmers with water. Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan, Uganda, Malawi and Ghana have done exactly what I’m requesting today,” he said.
He said they have made such provisions knowing very well that water, as a vital resources, can promote economic development. As a vital natural resource, Mr Pule said water was also essential in improving the livelihood of people and ensuring sustainable food security in the country.
Supporting the motion, as amended, Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere said the motion was a good initiative as it was in line with government’s desire to ensure water access to all Batswana, more especially those in the agricultural sector. Water, Mr Tshere said, was a critical basic need in the agriculture sector, adding that it’s availability could also help improve productivity. Mr Tshere said currently, government was spending more than P400 million annually on different agriculture programmes.
Given the current state of the country’s economy, he said the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture was in the process of reviewing all agriculture programmes to see how best they could be improved to benefit Batswana as well as to ensure there was value for money injected in all these programmes. Tswapong South MP, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang supported the motion, saying it was in line with the nation’s aspirations of being food sufficient.
“Our country has unreliable rainfall, so we should ensure farmers have continuous access to water,” he said.
Charleshill MP, Mr Motsamai Motsamai also supported the motion, saying food security was a pillar for every nation.
“So, we should not be reliant on other countries for food, but we should be self sufficient,” he added.
MP for Shashe West, Mr Jeremiah Frenzel said prioritising provision of water to the farming areas would encourage the youth to also venture into agriculture. This, alone, he said would be a positive development that would contribute in reducing the level of unemployment among the youth.
Tonota MP, Mr Gaefele Sedombo also hailed the motion, saying it would inspire Batswana who had long abandoned their farms and ploughing fields due to lack of easy access to water, to go back to farming. Supporting the motion, Maun West MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama said lack of access to water led to increased challenges of poverty and unemployment in the country.
For that reason, he said the availability of water in farming areas would help more Batswana to become self reliant, which would ultimately contribute toward the reduction of the number of people who relied heavily on government social safety nets, resulting in improved national economy.
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