Botswana: Poor Food Supplies Prompt Government to Sell Farms
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
22 September 2008
Posted to the web 23 September 2008
Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
The government has put 16 of its farms up for sale to give Batswana a rare chance to own farms. The sale began last Friday.
This is the first time that government-owned farms have been put up for sale to the public. Ministry officials have told Monitor that more will be made available if and when possible in future.
All the 16 farms are to be used exclusively for agricultural purposes, either arable or livestock farming.
The 16 farms were previously used by the government for quarantining animals, research and artificial insemination.
The Principal Scientific Officer (responsible for) Small Stock, Setshwane Kgetse, says the historic development comes at a time when Government is concerned about declining food supplies and when more serious shortages are expected to hit the southern African region by 2010.
The move is one way of ensuring that, where possible, Botswana produces enough, especially in the areas of milk and beef.
"We are aiming at 2010 and beyond," Kgetse says.
"The Government's new programme called ISPAD, or the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development, is meant to increase food production and reduce the inflation that comes with imports."
The Principal Scientific Officer (responsible for) Range Management, Phineas Mutshewa, adds that the farms will be on a 25-year lease, with the option to extend if the government finds the business viable.
Mutshewa says among the 16 farms to be tendered for is the Lobatse-based dairy farm Sunnyside on which the government is currently carrying out dairy development research. "Part of Sunnyside will be leased out while the dairy development project will continue another side of the farm," he says.
The rest of the farms are the Dibete Farm, the Masiatilodi near Kanye, the Maitengwe Farm, the Maun, Shorobe and Makalamabedi Farms, the Jwaneng Farm, the Diphuduhudu Farm in Kang, the Hyenaveld in Kgalagadi, and the Makoba, Kaka and Dakome Farms.
Mutshewa farms such as Diphuduhudu, Makoba and Shorobe have been sub-divided.
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The tender documents have been on sale since Friday at agriculture offices in Maun, Francistown, Palapye, Tsabong, and Gantsi. The tenders wills close on November 4.
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Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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