Botswana declares 2022/2023 severe drought year, with specified subsidies for farmers

Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has declared 2022/2023 to be a severe arable agricultural drought year across the country.

This follows the consideration of the 2022/2023 Drought and Household Food Security Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis Report, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Wednesday.

For the second half of the rainfall season — January to March, only the Southeastern areas and Eastern Ngamiland received significant amounts of rainfall. Kgalagadi, Ghanzi and Western Ngamiland were particularly dry. The temporal distribution of rainfall was poor even in areas exhibiting good rainfall, thus a moderate meteorological dry season, said Gabatlotlane Mogapi, permanent secretary of the ministry.

To deal with the drought which will affect the agriculture and livestock sectors, the Ministry of Agriculture will provide a 30 percent subsidy for non-traditional commodities — dairy, piggery, aquaculture, and poultry — to smallholder farmers beginning immediately and ending Jan. 31, 2024. The ministry will also provide grants worth 100 percent of the cost of solar electrification of field fences in elephant-prone areas, in partnership with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, according to the statement.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance will pay 40 percent of seasonal loans to farmers who received loans from the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency and National Development Bank for rain-fed arable farmers via the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme facility to supplement crop failure as determined at the time of assessment.

For children aged 6-59 months, the Ministry of Health would provide blanket supplementary feeding, with a single ration for normal growth and moderately underweight children and a double ration for severely underweight children. Enditem