The Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) has realised a four-hold increase in profits as the parastatal’s 2007 revival strategy starts to bear fruit.
The marketing board’s financial statement shows that it recorded a net profit of P14 682 943 for the year ended 31 March 2009 against a net profit of P3, 526, 556 in the same period last year.
“This four-hold increase in profit is largely attributable to a growth in revenue of 51 percent,” BAMB’s CEO, Masego Mphathi, revealed.
The marketing board recorded revenues of P139 523 726 in the financial year 2008/09 as compared to P92 454 968 in the period 2007/08.
Mphathi stated that as a result of the performance, the board has now fully complied with the financial provisions as stated under Section 14 of BAMB Act.
The Act requires the board to perform its functions and conduct its activities and that its revenues be sufficient to enable the Board to meet its expenditure properly chargeable to its revenue account.
“The board will also be able to pay dividends to government for the first time since it was established,” added Mphathi.
This is the second year in a row for the marketing board to make a profit as a result of the turnaround strategy initiated in 2007.
Mphathi revealed that despite the general economic slowdown, growth in business was robust.
He stated the growth in business is attributable to an increase in demand for inputs under the Integrated Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD), a growing demand for indigenous foods and the fact that in household expenditure the food component is typically the last to be adjusted when households tighten their budgets.
