Agriculture Begins to Move the Needle

When the 2025 Budget Speech was delivered, agriculture was cast as one of the sectors expected to help pull Botswana out of its structural dependence on diamonds. The promise was that state-owned enterprises would be reformed, exports expanded, productivity improved, and diversification would no longer remain rhetorical. Government committed to repurposing the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB), stabilising the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), and scaling up the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) into a globally competitive producer. Agriculture was positioned as both a rural development engine and a foreign exchange lever. One year later, the 2026/2027 Budget Speech suggests that some of those commitments have moved beyond intention. The sector is now being firmly framed as a commercially driven, export-oriented agro-industrial platform, expected to generate foreign exchange, deepen value chains and contribute meaningfully to diversification under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP). From a fiscal perspective, the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture has been allocated P1.77 billion under the development budget, representing 7.59 percent of total development expenditure. However, the more telling signal lies in the recurrent allocation. The Ministry receives P2.41 billion, the sixth-largest share of the proposed budget, but this reflects a 1.2 percent decline compared to the previous year. The reduction is largely attributed to scaled-down subventions to state-owned enterprises under the Ministry. While Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolatlhe presented the cut as modest and aligned with core priorities, including food security, farmer self-reliance, extension services and climate resilience, the broader message is that agriculture parastatals are being placed under tighter fiscal discipline, in line with the government’s wider push for performance and accountability. This shift mirrors commitments made in the 2025 Budget Speech, where the government openly acknowledged governance weaknesses within SOEs and pledged to transform them into high-performance organisations and engines of wealth creation. Within agriculture, this included the restructuring of BAMB, the stabilisation of BMC and the scaling up of BVI’s production capacity. The 2026/2027 allocation confirms that while support remains, automatic fiscal cushioning is narrowing. The turnaround narrative is most visible at the BMC, where Gaolatlhe says the government’s stabilisation efforts are beginning to bear fruit. The parastatal has cleared P698 million in arrears, increased throughput at the Lobatse plant by 22 percent, and recorded a 31 percent rise in revenue to P1.04 billion year-on-year. It has also invested in a Meat Value Addition Plant, a revitalised tannery, and announced plans for multispecies abattoirs in Gaborone and Tsabong, initiatives expected to deepen value addition, diversify production, widen market access and enhance farmer incomes. “The Commission is undergoing a far-reaching turnaround that is revitalising the beef value chain and restoring confidence among farmers,” Gaolatlhe said. Yet the progress is unfolding under renewed threat. The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Zone 6b has been described by Gaolatlhe as a “dark cloud” with severe economic consequences, including production losses, containment costs and prolonged restrictions on access to international markets. The government has availed P97 million for emergency containment and established a Joint National Emergency Operations Centre, supported by ten mini-command centres in border districts. The vulnerability has already begun to materialise. The United Kingdom has imposed an immediate ban on imports of fresh Botswana beef following the confirmed outbreak, threatening one of Botswana’s premium export destinations. Beef remains among the country’s most valuable agricultural exports and a key source of foreign exchange earnings. Gaolatlhe warned that disease control is directly linked to continued eligibility under the SADC–EU Economic Partnership Agreement. Delays in containing the outbreak could result in severe production losses, higher livestock mortality, reduced beef export receipts, heightened risks to national food security and broader drag on economic growth — with smallholder farmers likely to bear the brunt. “It is therefore imperative that we resolve the FMD situation urgently, so that we do not lose the hard-earned gains that have the potential to transform our economy,” Gaolatlhe said. At the same time, BVI’s scaling-up is now underway. Gaolatlhe confirmed that a new Blending and Filling Laboratory is under development and is expected to be completed during the 2026/2027 financial year. The facility is intended to increase production capacity and enable diversification of vaccine products for export markets — building directly on the 2025 pledge to elevate BVI into a stronger regional exporter. “As foreshadowed last year, the Government has moved beyond intent to implementation,” Gaolatlhe said. The export narrative is most pronounced in horticulture. Gaolatlhe reported that fresh citrus exports rose from 2,790.68 tonnes in the 2024 season to 13,711.53 tonnes in 2025, an increase of more than 390 percent, after Botswana secured access to 17 international markets. Government further stated that it is engaging in targeted trade negotiations with the United States, China, India and South Korea to widen access for a broader range of high-potential agricultural products. Agriculture has also been structurally embedded within the BETP as a diversification lever. Gaolatlhe said the sector is being repositioned “from subsistence and import dependence to a modern, export-oriented agro-industrial sector built on value chains and agro-processing.” Under the programme, 26 transformative projects span crop and livestock production, cold-chain logistics, and expanded access to global markets. Institutional reform has also been reinforced through the launch of the Botswana Mercantile Exchange (BMX), designed to introduce organised, market-driven pricing mechanisms for commodities such as sorghum and beef. By aligning domestic prices with international benchmarks, BMX is expected to reduce income volatility and improve price discovery. Steven Bogatsu, Chief Executive Officer of First National Bank Botswana, has described the initiative as a potential solution to long-standing liquidity constraints in agricultural trade, arguing that it could make commodities more tradable while opening alternative funding mechanisms beyond traditional bank lending. However, industry analysts such as Mosa Balesamang caution that while commodity platforms can improve coordination and enhance market efficiency, their success will depend on safeguards to ensure competitive procurement, transparent grading systems, meaningful farmer representation, and measures to mitigate the risk of structural market dominance. The National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) is also advancing initiatives around locally adapted seed development, laboratory accreditation and seed processing modernisation. Productivity, however, remains the deeper structural question facing the sector. Sayed Timuno, Secretary for Macroeconomics and Financial Policy in the Ministry of Finance, has pointed to Botswana’s negative Total Factor Productivity, arguing that inefficiencies in the deployment of land, labour and capital continue to constrain sustained growth. He has warned that until productivity turns positive, growth will remain below potential. The World Bank has similarly argued that long-term sustainable growth requires productivity gains of around two percent annually. Agriculture, as both a labour absorber and a land-intensive sector, sits squarely at the centre of this debate. Bogatsu frames the question more bluntly, noting that programmes such as Temo Letlotlo and Thuo Letlotlo were designed to stimulate agricultural momentum but did not consistently deliver transformative results. He argued that lessons from past interventions must inform the current reform agenda. “What is going to be done differently this time around? Have past investments translated into durable productivity gains, or have they recycled capital without transforming output?” he asked during the recent FNB Budget Review Seminar.

Botswana’s Titans invited to compete in European softball cup

Vunani Fund Managers praised for boosting women’s sports in Botswana

Township Rollers bet on renewal as rescue plans take shape

Modutlwa charts inclusive future for Botswana Bowls

Botswana ready to serve Africa’s biggest badminton stage

Botswana Signals A Strategic Reset With Twin Leadership Appointments In Sport and the Arts

Botswana’s Titans invited to compete in European softball cup

Vunani Fund Managers praised for boosting women’s sports in Botswana

Township Rollers bet on renewal as rescue plans take shape

Modutlwa charts inclusive future for Botswana Bowls

Botswana ready to serve Africa’s biggest badminton stage

Botswana Signals A Strategic Reset With Twin Leadership Appointments In Sport and the Arts

Agriculture Begins to Move the Needle

Navigation

Recent News

Site

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?

Agriculture Begins to Move the Needle

Support authors and subscribe to content

Subscribe

Navigation

Recent News

Site

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?