29 May 2023

Botswana Farmers Association (BOFA) has kicked off preparations for the inaugural cycling event to be held sometime next year.

Consequently, the association, together with Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) hosted a build-up cycling event on Saturday, to hype the inaugural event.

In an interview, the association president, Diane Sibanda said they would consider staging other activities as part of the build-up. Sibanda said they would also identify a cycling club to partner with in hosting next year’s event. She explained that the idea to host a cycling event was part of their initiative to sensitise and deliver on their mandate as BOFA regarding issues of climate change.

Established in 2017, with members ranging from small holder farmers of all supplies, she said the association came up with the initiative to use cycling in its efforts to mitigate climate change effects on farming.

“Cycling is a way of life and all of us, farmers included, need to think of using it as a mode of transport as it also has health benefits. This is part of our mitigation strategies to address climate change as farmers are struggling with its effects,” she said.

She added that they had benchmarked through interactions with Global Farmers Association and Regional Farmers Association who had since embraced the initiative. For his part, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ghulam Kibria described the initiative as a great concept in approaching and addressing climate change especially for farmers.

“As a ministry, we also look into our Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and goals one, two, 14 and 17 speak to us alleviating carbon emission and cycling is one of the initiatives to help change our lifestyle which could help our farmers as well in their produce,” Kibria said.

On one hand, LEA’s head of sector innovation, Monyadiwa Masilo said their role in such an initiative was to assist BOFA stage a successful event.

“We provided a venue for this build-up event and as LEA we support young farmers and we would like to see them producing without the struggle of climate change effects, hence our support in this cycling event which will be held next year,” Masilo said. ENDS