Reskill the Agricultural Sector for Growth
The agricultural sector in Botswana, with its potential for proactive, energetic, innovative, and reliable human resources, can overcome its challenges. Despite past setbacks, the Government can rejuvenate the industry with fresh skills and progressive implementation ideas. By setting clear targets, the sector can drive the Government’s growth agenda, necessitating a significant overhaul.
The Ministry of Agriculture and all its state-owned enterprises are in dire need of a comprehensive skills audit. To assess how many highly educated personnel are genuinely adding value in agronomy, horticulture, land management, and all other sub-sectors. When was their last training and performance evaluation, and how does it align with the Government’s Reset Agenda? Is it prudent to increase the agricultural budget under the same management that has failed to deliver in the past three decades? Should we entrust the management of high-value livestock and genetics and the transformational arable farming projects to the same individuals who have long undermined the progress and growth of the agricultural sector? We also have successful models in the industry to emulate with some talent management in place. What lessons can we draw from high-performing organisations such as Botswana Vaccine Institute’s achievements, and how can we replicate them in other agricultural enterprises? The answers to the questions will drive a significant shift in project implementation and management, with the farming community at the core of our inspiration. The uniqueness of agriculture and the uncertainties of our times require a creative and diverse human resource that can motivate and lead the sector as role models for attaining much-needed economic and environmental sustainability.
One answer is that a substantial shakeup and reskilling are necessary in the sector, particularly in strategic positions. This alignment of the skills needs a substantial amount of resources, particularly a well-managed budget. This management change will ensure cohesion in implementing transformational agricultural projects that will quantum leap Botswana into a high economy by 2036. However, the sector should do this while preserving the best institutional knowledge and experience.
Furthermore, it is crucial to develop agricultural sector leaders who not only understand the needs of the farmers, processors, distributors, and the market but also have the ability to deliver. These leaders will learn from past mistakes and implement best practices and strategies that increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP and create sustainable jobs. The Government should consider implementing early voluntary retirement for non-performing staff to redirect labor into agriculture production. It is a brutal process that must be implemented by all means to grow and diversify the economy.