Africa-Press – Botswana. Exploitation of agricultural value chains has the potential to elevate Botswana’s economy to high income status.
Speaking during National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) value chains assessment launch in Kanye recently, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi said well-developed value chains contributed to decreasing poverty primarily by increasing productivity and adding value to products.
He said through the value chains research, NARDI would be in a better position to highlight areas where all participants in agriculture could play an impactful role.
“The research will enable identification of areas where competitiveness, efficiency and maximum returns in the agricultural sector can be achieved,” he stated.
The outcome of the study, he said would also identify gaps across the value chains and provide recommendations for policy interventions to guide research and agriculture commercialisation.
Assistant Minister of Agriculture explained that the study aligned well with the country’s vision 2036 and would result in the development of new technologies that would give the country its new identity of a knowledge based driven economy.
Mr Molebatsi highlighted that it was necessary for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure achievement of NARDI’s research and development mandate.
NARDI Chief Executive Officer, Professor Julius Atlhopheng highlighted that their mandate was to bring about positive changes in agriculture with knowledge from different studies, noting that relevant stakeholders were vital in achieving their mandate.
“The study would assist the country in driving knowledge based economy and showing the value of agriculture,” he said.
He said with knowledge acquired from the study, the country would be able to come up with strategies to maximise exploitation of value chains. Prof Atlhopheng said the idea was to add value to different products, looking at areas of competitiveness, efficiency and maximum returns on investments.
He said agriculture had the potential to grow the country’s economy.
NARDI Board Chairperson, Dr Mbatshi Mazwiduma said it was important for the youth to attend such events, to be in a position to take part in value chains as they were the ones mostly affected by unemployment.
He urged parents to encourage their children to partake in agriculture, noting that they had the knowledge, IT expertise and skills to lead in exploitation of value chains.
“This issue of value chains is going to be useless if we do not include our youth,” he said.
Dr Mazwiduma highlighted his worry about indigenous plants such as sengaparile, which were exported and sold at very high prices by foreigners instead of the local youth.
“These products are exported raw. The youth should be engaged to process such plants into various finished products,” he added.
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