Smart Farming Is The Future – PRESIDENT MASISI

Botswana needs a private sector led export oriented economy in the agricultural space which is possible through smart farming.

This was said by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in an interview during a tour of France’s Ferme De La Tremblay smart farm recently. President Masisi said smart farming would bring in more revenue from exports. He also expressed the wish for Botswana to apply technological skills in agriculture especially pastoral farming.

That way the country would increase agricultural product quality, value and price, he said. Ferme De La Tremblay rears dairy goats and cattle, produces its own feed and makes cheese and yogurt among others. It also produces its own electrify which it feeds into the national grid.

Stressing the importance of benchmarking, President Masisi said it had the potential to motivate Batswana in the farming industry to emulate new techniques. President Masisi described the farm as an inspiration especially because its products were organic.

The President noted that it had employed technology to care for animals, which he said could be adopted by Lobu Farm. Dr Masisi said his vision was to turn Lobu Farm and Impala Training Centre in Francistown into world class farms that would help Botswana achieve one of the ideals of Vision 2036 – making agriculture one of the leading engines of economic growth.

Agriculture should be export-led and technologically-driven, he emphasised.

For his part, the farm’s general manager, Mr Baptiste Carrouche said it was established in 1967 initially focusing on horticulture but diversified over time. He said it employed different production techniques such as artificial insemination, collection of data for each animal such as feed, quantity and quality of milk produced. That, he said, had helped grow the business into the best in smart farming.

BOPA