A parastatal whose mandate is to ensure that the country’s food security is not under threat told reporters in the capital Gaborone that the southern African nation is headed for a serious food shortage.
Botswana Agricultural Marketing (BAMB) Chief Executive Officer, Leonard Morakaladi attributed the looming shortage of food to low rainfall during the 2018/19 ploughing season.
He said the result is that the country’s food security is under serious threat.
Morakaladi said a number of farmers have been affected by low rainfall and therefore called on them to cut stocks of their failed crops and his organisation would procure them.
“We don’t want our farmers to experience total loss of their investment. Hence we urge them to cut down the stocks of failed crops and sell them to us,” he said.
Botswana experienced a dry spell from mid January to early February which caused moderate to severe crop moisture stress especially in the northern part of the country.
The country is therefore expected to import maize from neighbouring South Africa and Zambia as part of an effort to offset the looming food security threat.