Import Ban on Veges Could be Lifted

Assistant Minister Molebatsi says WTO and SACU do not want the ban there forever Notes that consumers are complaining about shortage and product quality Horticulture body says a section of retailers manipulates the market The organisation is working on a Horticulture Policy with FAO and MoA Currernt restrictions on importation of certain fresh produce will not be there forever, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Molebatsi Molebatsi, has warned horticulture farmers. Speaking at a Horticultural and Grain Farmers Workshop in Gaborone this week, the Minister Molebatsi stated: “The restrictions, according to the Souther African Customs Union and the World Trade Organisation, are not going to be there forever.” [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="1" ] In January 2022, Botswana and Namibia imposed restrictions on importation of tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli peppers, butternut, watermelons, sweet peppers, green mealies, and fresh herbs. “We have to put a timeframe and the timeframe that we put was two years,” said the minister, adding that if there are gaps to be closed, they should be fast-tracked “because we have said to SACU and WTO that they (the restrictions) will not be there forever.” He asserted that Botswana should be self-sufficient in horticultural produce and export the surplus at the end of the two years. Molebatsi noted that there are encouraging developments to that end. “The ministry sometimes gets requests from potato farmers that they want to export,” he said. “There is so much they produce for the country and the country cannot take all of it.” He disclosed that his Ministry of Agriculure has issued export permits twice or thrice to potato producers during this restriction period. The minister told the farmers that just over a year since implementation of the ban, consumers have raised complaints about shortages and the quality of fresh produce they find in the market. “At the end of the day, we also have to protect the consumer,” he said. “If that doesn’t work, then we will have to go back and open the borders. But if it works, we will enhance it. We may have to go back to SACU and WTO and ask for two more years.” Botswana has an annual demand of 112,000 tonnes of horticultural products against 68,000 tonnes produced locally. Also spaeaking at the workshop, the Chairman of Botswana Horticulture Council (BoHoCo), Mogomotsi Moatswi, said horticulture is a market-focused and demand-led sector with opportunities to increase supply and quality. He noted that because Botswana has a huge tourism sector, the horticulture should aim to supply it fully before considering the export market. His organisation represents mainly smallholder farmers countrywide. “From the closure of borders of the selected horticultural vegetables, it was evident that the market was held to ransom by the South African imports,” said Moatswi. He asserted that the quality of the products that were brought into Botswana prior to the ban was questionable. “Production in the country has since doubled and farmers are heeding the call to feed the nation,” he said. Besides the increase in production, Moatswi noted that the import ban has also led to improvement in the methods of farming across the country. “The only problem that persists is market access,” he said. “The products are there but the market is still controlled by a few powerful buyers.” According to Moatswi, while the farmers should ideally be profiting from selling their products, the retailers are pocketing more. “We get little while they (retailers) double or triple the price of the commodity,” he said. “They even sometimes cause a surfeit of commodities because sometimes there is cabbage in Gaborone while there is nothing in Tsabong or Shakawe.” Moatswi disclosed that BoHoCo is working with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) through the Ministry of Agriculture to produce a Horticulture Strategy, which is almost at its final stage. “It was evident that most of the programmes from horticulture are just announced without a sequence of whom they are supposed to be announced to first,” he asserted. “We have seen with the import ban which we learned through social media. These are things we need to correct, and we can only do that if we have a good strategy to show what responsibilities are for which associations and farmer organisations.” Because the announcements often come as a surprise to them, time-consuming arguments arise at the expense of production. [/ihc-hide-content]

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