Debswana Diamond Mining Company has entered a partnership with Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) to provide technical expertise for the mining company’s food security projects.
The decision comes after the mining giant reached out to BUAN for assistance in implementing the integrated closure and rehabilitation of the Jwaneng Mine. According to BUAN Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ketlhatogile Mosepele, the expectation was that BUAN would be responsible for the vegetation rehabilitation and restoration trials in areas that had previously been mined.
“Essentially, this speaks to Environmental Sustainability,” said Prof. Mosepele.
“Pursuing this request, a delegation of BUAN Academics undertook a reconnaissance survey of the Jwaneng Mine in February 2023.”
Prof. Mosepele revealed that the university will use this MoU to develop and implement an Environmental Sustainability model that can be used as mitigation for mine closure around Botswana and elsewhere.
“The partnership that we are affirming today will open opportunities for engagement in several areas listed by Debswana for Mine Closure within the Debswana Zone of Influence (ZOI),” he said.
These areas include Food Security and Environmental Sustainability, a Special Economic Zone for Medicinal Plant, Irrigated Arable Agricultural Small to Medium-Scale Holdings (Cereal and Horticulture), Assisted Livestock Production Facilities (feedlot, small stock, piggery, poultry, integrated farming), Manufacturing and Agro-processing.
Others are the creation of an Agricultural Service Centre and Agricultural Demonstration Unit, the Development of Agricultural Value Chains (feeds, fertilizer, storage.), Cluster Farming Land Allocation and Facilitation (gated smallholding units with central support services), Dryland Farming, and Jwaneng Game Park-Eco-Tourism Enterprise.
Through the partnership between the two organisations, BUAN will be responsible for providing technical support for food security projects as part of the mining company’s Socio-Economic Development (SED) commitments.
Technical support, according to Debswana, shall include the provision of extension services to identified food security initiatives. According to Debswana’s Small Stock Project Manager, Obone Mabote, diamond mining will at some point come to a halt, hence the company’s Diamond to Mutton project.
Debswana has started plans to transform Jwaneng into a food security hub, mainly for sheep production. This is because the diamond company has identified the Jwaneng area as a potential area for sheep production. Mabote said there has been a decreasing level of small stock nationally such as sheep and goats, hence Debswana is taking the lead to increase the stock levels.
“The future of food security has to be a comprehensive value chain,” said Mabote.
