Floods add to Panda farmers’ troubles with sorghum
PANDAMATENGA: Floods in the country’s prime commercial agriculture area of Pandamatenga caused the delay of sorghum planting by three weeks and will impact the country’s supply of the key staple food.
Generally, the country consumes about 50,000 tonnes of sorghum each year, with local production accounting for most of this and the balance imported from South Africa.
Pandamatenga Farmers Association chair, Ryan Neal says floods experienced late last year are likely to impact the yields this season.
“We have planted approximately 12,000 hectares of sorghum and our hope is that it will give nearly 30,000 metric tonnes of sorghum,” he said, adding that this would be 20,000 metric tonnes short of the national demand.
Over the years government has launched several initiatives to encourage commercial farmers in the Pandamatenga area to invest heavily into producing enough food to feed the country and reduce the import bill as well as boost exports.
One of the crops that the government has been encouraging commercial farmers to prioritise is sorghum because it is amongst the most sought-after crops in the country.
The government has also invested in massive drainage systems in a bid to counter constant flooding that has troubled Panda farmers for years as the crop performs poorly when the rains are above normal.
Local banks have also not been left behind. Annually they assist Pandamatenga farmers with money amounting to around P250 million to buy inputs.
Farmers in Pandamatenga have also responded
in fashion. They have been doing well, especially when it comes to producing sorghum and even other crops such as beans. In fact, 2020 was the year in which Pandamatenga farmers highlighted their potential to produce enough sorghum to meet the country’s demand. Their harvest stood at 57,000 metric tonnes against the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board’s (BAMB) storage capacity of 30, 000 metric tonnes.
The trends in production and demand have prompted government through BAMB to invest more than P120 million in the construction of silos, which will be completed in April this year. Farmers have indeed enjoyed both public and private sector support in their production of sorghum, but one long-standing issue still rankles the producers.
Farmers in the Pandamatenga say they are deeply frustrated by poor sorghum prices offered by the BAMB, the government parastatal which is the chief buyer of produce in the country.
Speaking on Friday in the village, Neal cut a frustrated figure as he explained the dynamics around the pricing of sorghum in the country.
“A lot of farmers are getting disgruntled with the low pricing of sorghum,″ he told Mmegi.
“For the last two years, we have been in negotiations with BAMB over the pricing of sorghum, but we reached a stalemate.
“Their pricing is very low. They pay us P2,900 per tonne but as farmers, we believe that the amount does not tally with the amount of money invested on inputs during the production process.
“We believe something around P3,500 per tonne is ideal.”
He warned that the country’s ambitions to produce enough sorghum to meet local demand and ultimately attain food self-sufficiency might prove to be a serious challenge. According to Neal, sorghum is a high-risk crop and farmers often experience issues such as drought, slowed growth of crops, challenges posed by quelea birds and flooding.
The pricing debates have even reached the Chobe District Council chambers.
“We recently discussed pricing concerns by commercial farmers in Pandamatenga,” said Pandamatenga councillor, Tengenyane Tuelo.
“It has been proposed that BAMB officials should come to the Council to respond to the concerns raised by farmers.
“We are very optimistic that the issue can be resolved cordially because issues of farmers in the area have a very important role to play in the economy of the country.”
The stalemate over sorghum prices have pushed some farmers to consider different cash crops, according to Neal.
But not all is lost for Pandamatenga farmers. Neal noted that some farmers are exploring the possibility of planting wheat on a large scale because it is lucrative and is one of the most in-demand crops in the country.
“They are currently planting it (wheat) on a trial basis. They are trying to identify a good variety for the local climate,” he said, adding that he is very optimistic that farmers will start planting wheat on a large scale very soon.