Africa-Press – Botswana. Wilderness Safari company has injected P2.4 million on Shokomokwa Agri-Training Facility in Shorobe, which aims to enhance food security, create jobs and foster economic inclusion within local communities.
The company’s managing director, Mr Joe Matome revealed during a recent stakeholder engagement meeting. Though not yet launched, he said the construction was well underway, and its potential was already evident as they had injected millions in a bid to empower and train farmers in sustainable farming, beekeeping, and agro-enterprise.
“We are making steady progress on a transformational initiative, addressing empowerment and education just outside Maun through this multi-million project which aims to deliver practical training in areas including vegetable farming, seedling production and bee keeping. We are cultivating future farmers to produce high quality produce to both local market and the tourism industry,” he added
Through the project, Mr Matome said they expected over 10 000 seedlings to be produced, adding that up to 10 new farmers would be trained every two to three years, with the long-term goal of creating a reliable supply chain for high-quality produce.
Furthermore, he said the project had created eight permanent jobs plus rotational opportunities for community members through seasonal employment giving people across Shorobe, Sexaxa, and surrounding areas a tangible introduction to agricultural livelihoods. He also pointed out that they had signed a memorandum of agreement with their partner Stanbic Bank to support businesses that supply them under the project.
On other issues, Mr Matome dismissed reports that their partnership was coming to an end in 2026. While Wilderness is rooted in conservation tourism, he said they were powered by such partnerships as they were the foundation upon which they built the three impact pillars of education, empowerment and protection.
The organisation has forged several key partnerships to advance its conservation and community developments goals and despite that Mr Matome highlighted that they had been misleading and disturbing reports that aimed to undermine their efforts.
“There have been news that some of these partnerships are coming to an end in 2026. The agreements we have do not have any such dates and there have been news that we do not do any social contributions to the communities we operate within,” he revealed.
Mr Matome revealed that Wilderness has a strong and multifaceted relationship with the Okavango Community Trust citing that the partnership focused on community development, sustainable tourism and human wildlife conflict mitigation.
For the past 10 years, he said they paid P60 million as lease fees to the community with P6 million paid annually. He said P100,000 additional contribution per year was paid to each of the five villages affiliating to the trust for empowerment.
This year alone, he said the organisation has built a two classrooms to the tune of P1.8 million relieving pressure on classrooms in other villages of the Okavango trust to advance their pillar of education. Wilderness company, he said was also involved in a project that was protecting humans from conflict with lions and their livestock for provision of meat to their camps.
Other projects, the company initiated to empower suppliers and strengthen economic ties with the tourism industry in the annual Wilderness Local Suppliers’ Expo, which brings local suppliers together to showcase their products and services. The stakeholders also learnt that over P6.3 million had been spent in new contracts awarded since 2024 and that the organisation was on track to exceed P8 million by the end of the year.
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