A number of studies have shown that since a little before independence, agriculture in Botswana started on a process of a downward spiral from which it has never recovered.
In a bid to save this otherwise very important economic sector, government, over the years, spent a lot of money in a number of programmes aimed at salvaging the sector.
All such efforts by government to resuscitate agriculture are commendable.
Sadly, many such schemes have borne very little fruit.
They were either poorly implemented by officials or, in many instances, abused by the beneficiaries.
The said programmes include, among others, ARAP, ALDEP and SLOCA to name just a few.
The bottom line is that the intended results from such programmes were never achieved.
It would be foolhardy to point an accusing finger solely at government.
Farmers are, in fact, to a very large extent, to blame for the failures of the schemes.
Be that as it may, the purpose of this editorial is not to apportion blame or start labouring on a new thesis on the causes for the decline of agriculture in Botswana.
Rather, it is an attempt to make a small contribution in the ongoing debate about what should be done to resuscitate this sector.
There is a general consensus that despite all the difficulties Botswana has to grapple with, such as the poor climate and unpredictable, unreliable and insufficient rains, the country still ought to be producing at least half of its total agricultural needs.
If only things were done differently with a greater purpose of mind!
As things stand, Botswana is far from producing even half of its food needs.
Our belief is that notwithstanding such difficulties as bad soils and late rains, there is still a huge but underutilized potential when it comes to agriculture.
If only we could get our priorities right!
A recent study commissioned by BEDIA has come to the conclusion that when it comes to cattle farming, there is still a lot of money to be made in feedlot production.
The study observes that farmers should seriously consider the upstream side of the sector rather than concentrate on the traditional rearing of animals, which is much costlier and only brings in rewards once backed by significant economies of scale.
Another area that has to be attended to as a matter of priority is that of infrastructure (communications, electricity etc) linking the farms and other centres of agricultural production to the market.
It is no exaggeration that many of the farms are totally cut off from the market places.
This does not only increase the costs of production but also has a deterrent factor in attracting more people and, of course, new investments into the agricultural sector.
If young people, especially those just graduating from the university, are expected to become full time farmers, we have to be realistic with the fact that few of them will not want to stay all their lives in the bush unless there are real incentives of making more money when compared to their colleagues who choose to remain in the glitter of the cities.
Which is why a way has to be found to invest in infrastructure especially roads, telecommunications and electricity to reach more of Botswana’s farms.
The situation is much better now in the age of mobile telephones.
Government can initiate a partnership with mobile phone companies to increase availability of their networks in high density agricultural centres like the Tuli Block.
There are also areas with high livestock densities that can be connected to the national road, power and telecommunications grids.
It is fact of life that as a result of bad roads into most of the farms, transporting cattle to the Botswana Meat Commission is, for most farmers, a real challenge.
Not only are a lot of animals battered with severe weight losses by the time they reach the abattoirs, a good number never makes it as they die along the way.
Investments in infrastructure will not be enough.
Such investments have to be complimented by a change of heart and mindset towards agriculture.
Batswana have to start looking at agriculture as a fulltime job.
At the moment, the practice which is more common among the civil servants is to treat agriculture either as a part or pastime engagement.
In some worse cases, some people only resort to it upon retirement when they are physically exhausted to be of any use to the kind productive and physically demanding work in the field.
This has to stop.
The abhorable lack of passion especially among the youth is also a problem.
A way has to be found to convince the young Batswana that a lot of money can be made from agriculture, and that agriculture is no way a vocation for the poor or failed people.
