Australian tips give hope to parched Botswana farms

PANDAMATENGA, Botswana – The sun-scorched scrub stretching as far as the eye can see could easily be in the Australian outback – only there are no kangaroos.

In fact it is Botswana, but Peter Schuurs is using dry-land farming methods from his native Australia to transform the local economy and carve out a future for peasant farmers who might otherwise simply sell up and move to town. “Five or six years ago, farmers here were losing money and farmers were walking away from their farms.These days people want to come to Pandamatenga to be involved in agriculture,” Schuurs told Reuters.He was a grain farmer in Queensland and lectured college students when he answered an advert in the local media seeking an experienced farmer to run the Masedi project at Pandamatenga, which is backed by Botswana’s diamond mining company Debswana.”It was an opportunity to see the world and work at the same time.I’d always wanted to work in Africa,” he said.Schuurs took up the post last year in Pandamatenga near Botswana’s border with Zimbabwe, 675 km north of the capital Gaborone.Masedi farms 4 000 hectares, 1 500 of it owned and the rest leased.”It’s quite different to Australia in many regards, it’s a relatively remote location.Spare parts and crop inputs and that sort of thing can be difficult at times, so we’re learning to adapt and to cope with that situation.”In some ways life in Australia was excellent preparation for this remote corner of Africa.Schuurs’ wife Linda, who also has a degree in agricultural science, teaches their four children at their farmstead just like many families living on isolated farms back home.Schuurs himself is teaching local farmers how to coax cash crops like sorghum and chick peas from the dark, sun-cracked and barely fertile earth.He even tried cotton, but the first crop was not a success.Schuurs selects strains that are more resistant to the arid conditions, uses fertiliser judiciously and advises farmers what is the best time of year to plant.He also drills seed directly into the raw earth without ploughing as he says tilling the soil allows too much precious moisture to escape.Botswana’s rural culture has traditionally been based on subsistence farming, especially herding cattle – still regarded by many as the key sign of wealth.But outbreaks of foot and mouth, endemic to much of Africa, have illustrated the dangers of over-dependence on livestock.The discovery of diamonds transformed what ranked as one of the world’s poorest nations at independence from Britain in 1966 into one of Africa’s most sophisticated economies – and one of its richest head for head.As the only expatriate employed at Masedi, Schuurs is training a team of six young farmers who will ultimately run their own commercial farms once his work is done.In addition, the project is also working with local subsistence farmers to allow them to generate extra income from cash crops and share in the country’s good fortune.Among other benefits, the local farmers can borrow Masedi’s tractors, combine harvester and other machinery which they would otherwise be unable to afford on their own.”We’ve seen their income levels, their crop production, rise dramatically, and their levels of disposable income increase enormously as well,” Schuurs said.The new techniques have paid off.The Pandamatenga area produced less than 10 per cent of Botswana’s sorghum crop before Masedi started up in 1998.Now Schuurs says it accounts for more than 90 percent of the crop – some 21 000 tonnes in the 2002/03 season, and that despite a drought.More farmers have set up in the area, raising the number of small farmers to 48 last year from 10 just four years earlier.Debswana says the Masedi project should be a catalyst for development, and hopes Pandamatenga will one day have a viable farming business supporting cotton ginning, seed oil pressing and other service industries.”Crop yields have increased to such an extent that farming is now commercially viable,” Schuurs said.- Nampa-Reuters”Five or six years ago, farmers here were losing money and farmers were walking away from their farms.These days people want to come to Pandamatenga to be involved in agriculture,” Schuurs told Reuters.He was a grain farmer in Queensland and lectured college students when he answered an advert in the local media seeking an experienced farmer to run the Masedi project at Pandamatenga, which is backed by Botswana’s diamond mining company Debswana.”It was an opportunity to see the world and work at the same time.I’d always wanted to work in Africa,” he said.Schuurs took up the post last year in Pandamatenga near Botswana’s border with Zimbabwe, 675 km north of the capital Gaborone.Masedi farms 4 000 hectares, 1 500 of it owned and the rest leased.”It’s quite different to Australia in many regards, it’s a relatively remote location.Spare parts and crop inputs and that sort of thing can be difficult at times, so we’re learning to adapt and to cope with that situation.”In some ways life in Australia was excellent preparation for this remote corner of Africa.Schuurs’ wife Linda, who also has a degree in agricultural science, teaches their four children at their farmstead just like many families living on isolated farms back home.Schuurs himself is teaching local farmers how to coax cash crops like sorghum and chick peas from the dark, sun-cracked and barely fertile earth.He even tried cotton, but the first crop was not a success.Schuurs selects strains that are more resistant to the arid conditions, uses fertiliser judiciously and advises farmers what is the best time of year to plant.He also drills seed directly into the raw earth without ploughing as he says tilling the soil allows too much precious moisture to escape.Botswana’s rural culture has traditionally been based on subsistence farming, especially herding cattle – still regarded by many as the key sign of wealth.But outbreaks of foot and mouth, endemic to much of Africa, have illustrated the dangers of over-dependence on livestock.The discovery of diamonds transformed what ranked as one of the world’s poorest nations at independence from Britain in 1966 into one of Africa’s most sophisticated economies – and one of its richest head for head.As the only expatriate employed at Masedi, Schuurs is training a team of six young farmers who will ultimately run their own commercial farms once his work is done.In addition, the project is also working with local subsistence farmers to allow them to generate extra income from cash crops and share in the country’s good fortune.Among other benefits, the local farmers can borrow Masedi’s tractors, combine harvester and other machinery which they would otherwise be unable to afford on their own.”We’ve seen their income levels, their crop production, rise dramatically, and their levels of disposable income increase enormously as well,” Schuurs said.The new techniques have paid off.The Pandamatenga area produced less than 10 per cent of Botswana’s sorghum crop before Masedi started up in 1998.Now Schuurs says it accounts for more than 90 percent of the crop – some 21 000 tonnes in the 2002/03 season, and that despite a drought.More farmers have set up in the area, raising the number of small farmers to 48 last year from 10 just four years earlier.Debswana says the Masedi project should be a catalyst for development, and hopes Pandamatenga will one day have a viable farming business supporting cotton ginning, seed oil pressing and other service industries.”Crop yields have increased to such an extent that farming is now commercially viable,” Schuurs said.- Nampa-Reuters