08 Aug 2024

Tawana Land Board has been urged to revisit the issue of flood recession farming commonly known as molapo farming in North West district with a view to allow residents to continue practicing the traditional farming system. 

Some of the participants who attended the land board policy review consultation meeting in Maun on Wednesday expressed displeasure after learning that the molapo farming shall not be registrable, arguing that flood recession was an important livelihood activity that most households depended on for survival. 

The traditional farming system, they said, depended on natural waters and made use of fields that were located close to the river or water channels where soils were moistened by the seasonal flooding supplemented by rainfall. 

Participants called on the land board to relook the matter, saying not registering molapo farming would be a serious blow on the rural farming community who labeled themselves as the river people whose livelihoods were centred around the river. 

“To stop registering molapo farming will negatively affect our lives as some of us grew up in rural areas where our grandparents and parents relied much on the traditional farming method as it produced bumper yields. 

Our parents preferred the system over dry land farming because of the low rainfall experienced in the district,” said Kgosi Babinang Majatsie of Maun. 

He called upon the land board to allow residents to continue with the system because it was profitable as crops matured earlier and yields were high because of moisture availability due to periodic flooding. 

Another participant, Mr Meshack Dimbo, from Ditshiping shared same the sentiments saying molapo farming was the backbone of rural communities particularly those residing along water channels and rivers. 

He said the land board must allocate land for the traditional system as well as register the many who owned molapo fields so that they could be issued with land certificates. 

On other issues, he raised a concern that the policy did not cater for villagers residing in the Okavango Delta who co-existed with wildlife noting that currently, they were experiencing illegal allocation of ploughing fields in wildlife management areas such as concession area NG32, which he said caused a lot of conflicts and proposed that there should be a clause that addresses such issues. 

Other clauses in the draft policy that participants said needed to be re-looked were the surveying of residential plots before allocations were made and the arable plot sizes as it was stated that an integrated farm shall be allocated a minimum of one hectare and a maximum of nine hectares. 

They argued that the planning and surveying of plots was a long process hence there was delay in land allocation. 

With regard to arable plot sizes, they expressed concern that one hectare was too small but instead proposed that nine hectares should be a minimum and a maximum be  25 hectares. 

Earlier on when setting the tone of the meeting, the Tawana Land Board chairperson, Ms Reamogetse Yakenge, said the rationale behind the review of the land allocation policy was to provide guidance for land allocation and land management as well as to align it with the re-enacted Tribal Land Act of 2018 and the Botswana Land Policy as reviewed in 2019. 

She said the Tawana Land Board differed with other land boards as it was characterissed by diverse topographical features that included swamps, heritage sites, floodplains, and rivers that made up the Okavango system. 

“Against this backdrop, we found it imperative to develop a land allocation policy to manage and conserve land, the natural resources and contain the different often opposing demands on the land,” she added. 

Ms Yakenge also appreciated the participants who comprised of traditional leaders, village development committee members, community trusts and land overseers saying they regarded them as key stakeholders in land administration and allocation hence the board found it fit to solicit their ideas before finalising the draft policy. 

Participants learnt some objectives of the policy were to enhance transparency in procedures and processes related to land matters, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in land allocation and management as well as to facilitate coordination of development efforts between the land board and other stakeholders. 

Lastly, participants were implored to make submissions that would help the land board to make sound decisions that would benefit future generations. 

Ms Yakenge also thanked dikgosi for being instrumental in helping the land board to deal with issues of inheritance and illegal allocations of residential plots. Ends