Africa-Press – Botswana. Tuli Block farmers have called on government to review agricultural policies mentioning the need to level the playing field to enable them to compete effectively with their South African counterparts.
They said this during a meeting which was held at Kwa Nokeng Lodge in Martin’s Drift recently where the Minister for State President Mr Moeti Mohwasa, the Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Tiroeaone Ntsima and the assistant Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Mr Keoagile Atamelang engaged with them and toured the cold storage facility and the Martin’s Drift Bridge, which government intends to upgrade.
Tuli Block Farmers Association chairperson Mr Jan Stiglingh argued that the current policies and support systems in the country were inadequate and put them at a disadvantage compared to farmers in the neighbouring South Africa who benefitted more from robust government subsidies, advanced infrastructure and better access to regional and international markets.
He highlighted that the challenges they faced included limited access to the markets, outdated infrastructure and insufficient support from government. He said they produced 38 000 metric tonnes of vegetables yearly and contributed to 43 per cent of current national local production.
Mr Stiglingh said Tuli Block farmers, unlike other farmers in the country, were not receiving any support from government regarding production losses due to extreme weather conditions while Pandamatenga farmers received assistance. He however said there was an opportunity for them to develop the Tuli Block area more, if they could get support from government.
For his part, Minister Mohwasa said the full potential of Tuli Block area was not being exploited and government was looking at Botswana being a transport hub. He said Botswana was at the centre of Southern Africa and the development of the Lobito Corridor (infrastructure project that connects Angola, the DRC and Zambia) would divert traffic from the country to Angola and most of the goods from DRC would be diverted to Angola.
He however said government should make sure that the Martin’s Drift road was made as seamless as possible. He said the A3 Road was under rehabilitation and after its rehabilitation, the volume of traffic would increase.
Assistant Minister Atamelang said farmers should expect a lot of policy reforms from government that would make doing business easy for them. He said challenges faced by farmers were mostly infrastructure. He said the government had accelerated infrastructure development programmes and this was a plan to bring roads that were needed by all the regions in the country especially Tuli Block.
Minister Ntsima said they would embark on the ease of doing business and all the obstacles would be removed. He applauded Tuli Block farmers for working hard to produce food in the area despite the challenges they faced.
Tuli Block is known for its fertile land and potential for agricultural and tourism growth and has long been a hub for crop and livestock farming as well as safari tours.
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