Botswana: Food Security Must Be Top Priority
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
EDITORIAL
28 August 2008
Posted to the web 28 August 2008
Editor
The director of extension services co-ordination in the Ministry of Agriculture, Edison Wotho, reportedly disclosed to a Kasane consultative meeting that government is negotiating with Zambezi riparian states to allow Botswana to tap into the Chobe River.
This, we understand, should lead to a P4.5 billion-food production project that will cover Kasane, Pandamatenga, Lesoma and Kazungula. The government intends to provide requisite infrastructure for this massive agro-commercial project. We are tempted to share Wotho's optimism that the envisaged project "will take us somewhere as a nation".
This sounds more plausible than the sacrificing of good land for a sugar plantation.
Ensuring the nation's food security has never been a top priority. Yet run-away food shortages and skyrocketing food and fuel prices are a cause for concern globally. It is for this reason that countries like Botswana, which are dangerously dependent on food imports, estimated at 80 percent, must be taking remedial measurers to stem the crisis.
As a matter of fact, most food exporting countries have started instituting export curbs to the detriment of consumer nations. Therefore, the Chobe project could be the first right step in addressing food shortages. In fact, the whole approach to food security should be holistic. It should consider our comparative advantages that also include provision of the necessary infrastructure in sectors such as livestock production. This country has proved its mettle in this sector, and all that is needed is the creation of an environment conducive for its commercialisation.
However, we would like to caution the authorities to pay attention to fundamentals of production if the Chobe project is to inspire confidence in any future ventures. They should be paying particular attention to the comments made at the Kasane workshop by Phineas Pheto of the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), and Kasane Primary Hospital's acting matron, Portia Tshweu. Pheto reportedly advised government to start training locals for the envisaged jobs, while Tshweu noted that a bigger district hospital is needed. Obviously, that also goes for all other infrastructure such as schools.
The project should also take into consideration the interests of small farmers, fishermen and, indeed, those of all Chobe residents.
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
