JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (ADV) –Botswana has cautioned its citizens to prepare for worst as the country is on the brink of drought.
This comes after the Botswana Millers Association, Chairperson, Nkosi Mwaba recently indicated that the country was facing a drought and a price hike in maize was looming.
“As of now we are importing our maize from South Africa, United States, Mexico and Argentina,” said Mwaba.
“We need our people to be prepared for any eventuality as we are trying to deal with this situation.
We are subjected to both regional and global market factors as well as the unique price-setting structures in Botswana.” An agricultural research conducted in South Africa suggested that SA as Botswana’s biggest supplier, has estimated that planted hectare in the main maize producer in provinces of North West and Free State were down to an average of 65%.
Botswana consumes 120,000 tonnes of maize meal annually, but local production only amounts to 10,000 tonnes annually.
Previously, Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers told media that, “the situation of current crop status planted, late plantings and even no plantings meant farmers in South Africa were in for a very rough ride in 2019.” According to Mwaba, the Botswana Millers Association is in the verge of commercialising maize farming in Botswana, where farmers could gain financially instead of importing from South Africa.
“We have various challenges working against the growth of this sector, but we are confident that we will find a workable system that is practical and sustainable specifically for Botswana,” he said.
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