Monthly food import bill nears P1bn
It is an undeniable fact that every country must work towards bolstering its capacity to produce its own food and minimise reliance on other nations. This ideal economic principle appears to be a bit far from us as we still heavily rely on food imports, predominantly from South Africa. Whilst the country has various agricultural support initiatives, data released this year by Statistics Botswana paints a rather gloom picture on our quest to be food self-reliant.
According to the national statistics office, the country’s food import bill is slowly but surely moving towards the billion pula mark, driven by rising demand of food products.
Through a report titled Botswana Food Imports - February 2021, Botswana’s total imports were valued at P 6.3 billion. Of the said figure, food imports accounted for over P 720.8m, standing at 11.4 percent of the total import figure. This shows how the country urgently needs to diversify the economy away from diamonds and in particular, increase local food production.
Cereals accounted for 18.4 percent of the above-mentioned food imports, followed by preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants at 9.3 percent of the import bill.
The most imported types of cereals during the said month were “wheat & muslin, other than durum wheat, other than seed,” at 40.8%. Maize (corn) imports contributed 37.9% of the food imports. According to other government sources, cereals’ national demand stands at over 200, 000 tons per year, of which only 17% is supplied through local production. The rest comes in as imports, mainly from neighbouring countries.
“Juices made of any single fruit or vegetable unfermented, not containing added spirit, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter,” contributed 33.1% to the bill.
This was followed by “potatoes prepared or preserved, frozen,” which added 12.3% to the import bill.
Whilst it is generally accepted that Botswana is a net food importer, there is plenty of room for the reduction of food import bill through domestic production of basic food stuffs, especially cereals. More investments could be made into agriculture, focusing more on the arable land.
This should also be able to stimulate private sector development as well as adding to employment creation, thereby enhancing food security. One worrying fact which is also always reported on by Statistics Botswana is the reality that agriculture still heavily relies on imported skills, which could be an indicator that not so many locals are engaged in that sector. The other odd could be attributable to the fact that salaries and wages in that sector are amongst the lowest in the country, which could dissuade potential workers from propping local food production.
The reduction of the import bill can also be tackled through import substitution where policy makers can try and promote use of local resources instead. A case in point is the recent pronouncement by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry imposing restrictions of importation of maize extruded snacks, which is meant to promote local production, build competitiveness, thereby stimulating investment within the sector.
The said restriction was made public through a press release dated July 8, 2021 which stated that the import restriction was effectuated through Statutory Instrument 55 of 2021 which now requires that 40% of maize extruded snacks be procured locally.
Whilst import restrictions such as the one mentioned above will bolster local production, there is need for the involvement of mainly, the private sector in driving local food production. If the food import bill was P720.8m in February 2021, it simply means that it may soon hit the P1bn mark.
*This article was prepared by Data Collection & Analysis, a local business research firm and feedback can be relayed to 76 740 658 or to research@ easternman.co.bw.