03 Dec 2024

There is a need to review the policy of repossession of farmland to make way for residential plots in light of the fact that land is a fixed asset while on the other hand, population is growing, says Assistant Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti.

He was answering a question in Parliament on Monday where he expressed government’s commitment to strike a balance between food security and provide decent accommodation.

Dr Dikoloti said land was a pre-requisite for housing and food production therefore, government would implement alternative growth models for settlements and promote smart agricultural practises inclusive of among others, high models in urban places such as hydroponics and aquaculture, backyard poultry.

He said the merger of lands and agriculture sectors placed the ministry in a better position to coordinate and balance the practice of repossession of farmland.

Dr Dikoloti said that there was an economic value of the presence of holdings in towns and villages as such brought production closer to the consumers and thereby, promoting enterprise viability as it minimised transaction costs.

The arrangement creates convenience for identification of high value crop commodities and committing to produce such for specific niche markets within villages, towns and cities, Dr Dikoloti said, and admitted that many cities and towns around the world practised mixed use developments that supported urban agricultural activities.

He said Botswana had learnt from these practises hence the development of land policies and guidelines that supported the introduction of some non-agricultural activities in ploughing fields as opposed to wholesale change of land use.

Dr Dikoloti said transportation was a factor in the cost of any commodity that had to be transported to its market, adding that the government was committed to the provision of infrastructure to production areas.

He  noted that there would always be cases where it was necessary to repossess agricultural land to cater for village expansion but as hitherto said, ensuring effective co-existence of different operations all in a single compressed space would result in mutual and enhancing beneficiation among land uses.

Introduction of industries in farmlands may bring processing factories to the proximity and thereby promoting value addition.

Dr Dikoloti was responding to MP for Kgatleng West, Dr Unity Dow who had wanted to know whether government intended to review the policy of farmland repossession to give way for residential plots and whether government accepted that there was an economic value for the presence of small holdings in towns and villages.

Dr Dow also asked if the minister was aware that the co-existence of residence and farm holdings was a feature that obtained in many towns across the world and that one of the reasons for the high cost of locally produced agricultural products was high transportation costs and lack of other infrastructural services. Ends