Crop Production Trends Show Improvement

The agricultural sector has registered improved crop production trends largely due to good rains coupled with modern farming practices, according to the latest Statistics Botswana agricultural survey report released this month.

The 2017 agricultural survey, published by Statistics Botswana, indicates that arable production recorded substantially high yields for all the major crops during the 2017 cropping season compared to the 2015 agricultural census.

“The good performance of the crop sector is attributable to the good rains received during the 2017 agricultural season as well as the input subsidies provided by the government,” reads the report.

In 2017, sorghum production tripled to 5,973 metric tonnes from 1,927 metric tonnes recorded in 2015, while maize production also realised a substantial increase to 13,867 metric tonnes from 1,417 in the same period.

Millet production doubled to 1,100 metric tonnes in 2017 from 513 metric tonnes in 2015. There was more area planted and area harvested for all the crops except for millet in 2015 compared to the 2017 agricultural census results.

Production of beans and pulses also realised a significant increase from 796 metric tonnes to 2,343 metric tonnes. “The crop sector experienced a good harvest according to the 2017 survey results compared to the 2015 agriculture census results for the traditional sector,” added the report.

The results of the survey indicate that in the 2017

agricultural season, male holders continued to dominate farming at 62.7% compared to their female counterparts with only 37.3% participation.

The participation of the youth in agriculture is still low according to the 2017 survey results. Out of a total of 60,258 traditional holders countrywide, only 5.9 percent were aged between 15 and 35 years. The majority of farmers, 32.9%, was in the age group 65 and above, followed by those in the 55 to 59 years category at 14.4%.

There was an increase in the average farm wage from P832 in 2015 to P958 in 2017. This shows that most farmers pay their employees’ wages above the minimum wage, thus providing high incentives for workers to remain on the farms.

The minimum wages approved by the government were P550 and P700 for 2015 and 2017 respectively. According to results in the Annual Agricultural Survey Report 2017 (revised version), the majority of farm workers were permanent at 91.1%.

The results also show that 22.7% of the farmers employed farm workers during the 2017 agricultural season. The majority of these farm workers account for males at 93.4%, of which 57.9% have never been married.

Agriculture in Botswana consists of two distinct sectors, namely the commercial and the traditional sectors.

The agricultural survey carried out in 2017 covered only the traditional sector because of lack of resources and other ad

ministrative logistics.