Mosisedi Commercial Farmers Association (MCFA), a cluster body representing farmers in the Mosi/Sedibeng block will host the 2022 MCFA Harvest Day this Saturday. This year’s theme for the event will focus on issues relating to impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture.
At a press conference held recently, the association said it was committed to heeding the call for sustainable food security and believe that Batswana are capable of producing their own food thus being self-reliant.
Farmers expressed concerns of water shortage in the area, which they said thwarts efforts to have a good yield and encourage government to allocate unused land that is all over Botswana to citizens who have a desire to go into farming. They emphasized that land was paramount in farming and implored the government to develop unused land and extract maximum economic value from it. , The farmers said they are committed to developing the agribusiness space through smart farming, which they say can improve farming efficiency and reduce the import bill, particularly of grain products.
The agricultural cooperative cluster situated in the Barolong area comprises of 23 farms in the area with all of them being Batswana who collectively till a total area of 10000 hectares year on year. Mosisedi comprises of individual farms from Mosi and Sedibeng block joined to form one large cluster, which plants mostly sorghum, maize and beans through dry-land crop production, which is the cultivation of crops without irrigation in regions of limited moisture. Mosisedi supplies its produce to the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) as well as to individuals.
This year’s harvest day to be held under the theme “Impacts of COVID-19 on Agriculture” will see the cluster facilitating panel discussions centered on the theme, exhibitions , demonstrations as well as a kids’ corner and tour of the Mosisedi Farm. Peggy Serame, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development is expected to officiate at the event.
