Botswana can feed itself

Mmegi Online writes, "Currently, the world is experiencing its worst food crises. Shortages are hitting poor households the hardest.

Oil prices are at their highest levels ever, mainly because of speculators who dominate global futures markets and the so-called war on terror.

The food crisis is spurred on by shrinking supplies from producer countries, which want to satisfy their domestic markets. Net importers like Botswana often have good agricultural plans but are let down by inadequate execution. For example we can recall the millions put in the National Master plan for the Arable Agriculture and Dairy Farming (NAMPAAD), SLOCA, the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) or ALDEP, and still the country cannot feed its people.

Someone once commented that the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) had the most educated personnel in the civil service and yet agriculture is poorly driven.

Our belief is that since the country is blessed with natural resources like land and underground water, therefore agriculture at both domestic and commercial levels could be revived. Government should start encouraging households to utilise that land they live on by growing vegetables.

There is really no need for families to spend money on products like tomatoes, cabbage, onions, spinach or green peas when the education system teaches children to grow them at primary and secondary schools."