The custodians of the Special Economic Zones (SEZA) have revealed plans to turn the Pandamatenga area into a fully-fledged Agricultural hub beginning next year.
According to SEZA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thatayaone Ndzinge, plans are underway to increase the storage capacity in the Pandamatenga area in an effort to improve self-sufficiency in the country.
He said even though there has been increased production in the area, they have decided to put up 12 more silos before March next year in order to improve the storage capacity.
Ndzinge further said once the storage capacity has been improved, there can be an opportunity for the country to be self-sufficient and in turn be able to export.
“Pandamatenga was long declared a special economic zone and there is a 100 hectare of land in the master plan which will target beneficiation, so there are plans in place currently to expand our storage capacity to ensure that everything is processed and packaged before reaching the market,” said Ndzinge.
He said it is their ambition to ensure that they turn Pandamatenga into a food processing hub adding that it has been a waste over the years to realize that Agricultural produce leaves farms without due processing.
He highlighted that expanding capacity will enable them to ensure that more products are processed and packaged before reaching the market.
Ndzinge stated that Pandamatenga which had long been declared a special economic zone boasts a master plan which encompasses a 100 hectare land which will be rolled out soon.
“Currently we have production but the problem is inadequate storage, so the more we bring production on site without storage is the more we tend to have challenges, so we thought the best thing to do is to increase our silos and this is a project which I want to believe will be completed next year in March,”
“We are increasing the silo capacity by 60 000 metric tons so that we can increase production in the first instance because there will be another land that will be allocated in order to accommodate more production like rice and others,” added Ndzinge.
He added that developing further value chain within the Pandamatenga area will enable them to have more of local products in the market, also stating that it was disappointing to export local produce only to be bought back processed and packaged.
Nzdinge said after the process of building silos in the area they will then turn their focus towards ensuring that more land is allocated citing that there is a land that is approximately 25 000 hectares.
He said erecting silos in the area will bring more investment as there is more interest from the farming community to help the country achieve self-sufficiency.
It has been reported that increased food demand and consumption habits driven by among other factors the demographics and population growth are contributing to the country’s high import bill which currently stands at P1 billion a month.
According to a Statistics Botswana report titled Botswana Food Imports March 2022, food imports contributed P 1, 173, 829, 205 (over P1 billion) translating to 11.9 percent of the total import bill.
Government has over the years committed to ensuring economic diversification, employment creation and food security adding that it will do everything in its power to support the private sector through the creation of enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
It has stated that in the recent reset agenda adopted, the development of value chain in the Agricultural sector is one of its key priority.
It is said the increased food demand and consumption habits driven by among others factors the demographics and population growth are contributing to the country’s high import bill which currently stands at P1 billion a month.
