Experts are warning that climate change is no longer a distant threat; it has become an unfolding crisis and rewriting the rules, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture has said.
Minister Edwin Dikoloti was speaking at the Green Energy Transition for Sustainable Agriculture (GETSA) Project, where government officials and development partners called for urgent transformation and resilience in the way the country grows its food and sustains rural livelihoods.
“We must also confront the urgent realities facing our agricultural sector. Climate change is no longer a distant threat, it is a lived, present-day experience,” he said, adding that unpredictable rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and land degradation are impacting national food security, threatening rural livelihoods, and posing significant challenges to the economy.
To respond effectively, Dr. Dikoloti urged the country to embrace green energy solutions across the entire agricultural value chain, from production and processing to distribution. He further added that the government is developing a new Agriculture Sector Policy that places sustainability at its core.
The new policy, he explained, will promote regenerative agriculture, conservation farming, climate-smart aquaculture, and investment in efficient irrigation and water harvesting technologies. It also includes developing climate-resilient seed varieties to mitigate the impacts of drought, heat stress, and erratic rainfall patterns.
Hailing the GETSA project as a transformative initiative, Dikoloti pointed out that the ceremony came shortly after President Duma Boko launched the Ecosystem-Based Adaptation and Mitigation in Botswana’s Communal Rangelands project in Tsabong. Both projects, he said, underscore a national shift toward innovation, environmental stewardship, and climate-smart agriculture.
“As President Boko rightly stated, there is an urgent need for agriculture to evolve in line with global environmental shifts; for agriculture to adapt to the realities of climate change if it is to make a meaningful contribution to our national economy,” he stressed.
He further emphasised the need for collaborative approaches, acknowledging the critical role played by the German government in supporting the initiative through a grant to the National Development Bank (NDB) via the IKI Small Grants Programme.
“To effectively tackle climate change, we need all hands ondeck, sharing knowledge, experiences, and innovations to confront its complex challenges,” he urged.
The Green Energy Transition for Sustainable Agriculture Project empowered 54 smallholder farmers with solar-powered irrigation systems and climate-smart technologies, thereby cutting carbon emissions by 770 tonnes annually and conserving 1,600 cubic meters of water/
“These are not merely statistics; they are stories of resilience, innovation, and empowerment in our rural communities,” Dikoloti said.
Ogone Madisa, the CEO of the National Development Bank, which was the implementing partner of the project, said that since the project began in October 2022 with an €850,000 grant from the German government via GIZ/IKI, the bank has overseen a transformation in the agricultural energy landscape. She reported that 45 percent of the supported projects were led by women, seven percent by youth, and 60 percent of the workforce employed were young people.
She noted that the project underscores NDB’s commitment to serving as a catalyst for sustainable economic development in Botswana.
“We are transforming into Botswana’s centre of wealth creation for SMEs, driving scalable, sustainable industries. This project aligns directly with our Green Climate Finance Strategy. We are turning climate action into economic action,” Madisa.
Calling for broader collaboration, Madisa raised three key priorities: the need to scale the initiative, to normalise the use of green energy in agriculture, and to ensure that farmers can thrive amid changing climate conditions. She emphasised that these goals can only be achieved through collective action, accelerated implementation, and a shared commitment to building a resilient, sustainable agricultural sector.
