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12/1/1991 - A hitchhiker’s guide to the cows and crops of Botswana by Casey C. Kelso

CCK INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS A hitchhiker crops Botswana Casey C Kelso Amex Cardholder Manica Travel Services P O Box Gaborone Botswana Dec Peter Bird Martin Executive Director Institute Current World Affairs West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 Dear Peter Now thing Botswana desert country highly erratic rainfall soils That state department handbook guidebooks repeat Botswana president minister agriculture explain country rural development But words meant until Bobble Jo I hitchhiking through countryside month I already realized Botswana depends other countries enough people since I mostly South African labels supermarkets capital Gaborone In first foray villages however I found people remote areas equally dependent imported As I later traveled talked those involved producing domestically commercial farmers working thousands hectares expatriate researchers small farmers herdsmen became clear Botswana faces irony The nation attempts produce grain created ecological financial problems For first month Botswana initially confined travels zipping around downtown Gaborone trekking through broiling nearby government ministry buildings But early Monday morning walked southern leading neighboring Lobatse tried As I related United States doesn thumb hitchhiking Southern Africa Instead hitchhiker flops large flightless distress The ungainly effort makes larger motion anyway accomplishing something while symptoms stroke appear Casey Kelso fellow Institute studying societies political systems economies Southern Africa Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about intemational areas issues Endowed bythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalsosupportedbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations We stood patch shade watched after gravel flying until I thought effective strategy I pushed comely daintily wrist motorists We quickly pickup crunch shoulder Bobble Jo I stretched truck watch scenery blacktop vanishing behind Botswana beautiful bumping pickup speeding highway The rains recently fallen could along green growing horizon distant hilltops Lush grass front barbed fence wobbling erratically alongside frantic truck The brown hides cattle flecked rolling swells olive landscape The occasional manure mingled smell From distance looks fertile living When dropped nearer roadside however I vital details missing broad canvas I watching The ground behind fence flinty strewn rocks Patches reddish stand where grass dares venture beneath stubby briar bushes Those verdant trees focused thorns leathery sharp edged leaves Both scrubs trees looke stunted withered tough residual skeletons could withstand browsing goats Growing Botswana The covering country sandy The rainy season begins October provides barely enough moisture crops Agronomists millimeters annually necessary crops areas Botswana receive minimum See Figure That sparse fickle sometimes giving millimeters rainfall before waiting weeks another light shower Furthermore Botswana about melting point Texas In southern hemisphere however temperatures coincide months May through September The season sends mercury soaring degrees Fahrenheit rains arrive encourage foolhardy young plants sprout About percent Botswana popula rural areas depend sparse yields drought resistant sorghum fields farmer planting enough family basic requirements I better quickly correct thoughtless sexism because almost rural households headed women while working urban areas mines South Africa During drought years percent those subsistence farmers produced enough grain which explains cattle always insurance survival times You water field Wealth prestige measured today importance cattle shapes lives policies modern Botswana Figure The generous Botswana The shaded areas regions annual rainfall millimeters Sorghum withstand spells rainfall provided spread For reason sorghum cattle mainstays subsistence agriculture From Geoqraphy Botswana David May Gaborone MacMillan The pickup truck slammed brakes breaking reverie about Botswana landscape I twisted around truck goats scamper across That pattern Every minutes driver honked slowed loitering groups nimble goats floppy eared sheep angrily swishing their tails intrusion vehicle We stopped donkey forelegs still together hobble lying after unsuccessful jaywalking attempt The large number animals mostly alive browsing along became first something Although I initially failed understand I later learned logical reason animals grazed beside T highway through rural communal lands completely overgrazed edible fodder outside rusty fences The grass ditches normal while sandy other shows terrible environmental degradation There second there indicating severe overgrazing untrained missed A range management expert teaching University Botswana point When cattle constantly remove grass moisture ground remains bonanza opportunistic plants Chief among invaders western Botswana called terminalia servicea densely growing shrub small light leaves The encroachment thick places cattle through In normal ecology varying sizes young middle terminalia bushes generations recruited In degraded lands thicket shrubs grows height Along these desolate stretches pavement occasionally I roads leading tangle brush where thatched roofs poked above haystacks hidden We pulled before large cinderblock building painted bright The Naledi General Store constitutes local landmark since building between towns Kanye Jwaneng where majority Botswana diamond wealth mined It place where nearby villagers sugar On counter front Mrs Kuki Dingalo proprietor heaps potatoes squash onions cabbage She fresh produce comes South Africa several hundred kilometers south Behind shelves densely stocked cookies cooking canned goods With exception canned sacks sorghum stacked foodstuffs South Afric Zimbabwe Some people little gardens where raise spinach cabbage onions Mrs Dingalo I surprised relieved someone tried vegetables until I pressed details about garden Oh Jwaneng women plant their homes where pipes things replied There enough water village garden Only bigger places One borehole I I later tried track widely circulated unsourced piece common wisdom South African vegetables Mrs Dingalo others originated Botswana University professors government officials expatriate advisors farmers fertile eastern region called Tuli Block their tomatoes potatoes South African processors package cellophane cartons export Botswana supermarkets higher prices No farmer I spoke would confirm vegetables boomerang across border I could understand anyone would about sensitive subject On other government imported South African tomatoes potatoes until after domestic producers their harvests there wouldn compelling reason Botswana farmers produce south To Mrs Dingalo others almost total dependence imported To Frank Buagkomo involved shaping government development policy dependence threat Botswana national security Agriculture important thing country Buagkomo rumbling We survive without Agriculture crucial future farmers Once senior civil servant charge placing expatriate development workers rural development positions Buagkomo forced government younger university trained practical knowledge rural development Although remains board Botswana Meat Commission retired position civil service begin farming If nobody sandy savannah produce friends Buagkomo Of course added friend people Buagkomo background devoted themselves exclusively farming Buagkomo determined experience vision successful In mornings shirttail flapping around belly rounds magnificently finest tradition African Buagkomo personally directs several hundred kilometers outside Gaborone Just settling middle closely shaved crewcut begun But still fierce twinkle plainly reckoned On recent morning Decem sending hired build fence around planned truck After looking going repairs tractor marched another section holdings mission known himself Once orders given detail reappeared village Betesankwe breakfast American houseguests The walls inside house various icons another picture Pope John Paul photos Frank mother father painting John F Kennedy In eleven books about Kennedy family alongside texts cattle range management planning Conducting Toyota pickup Buagkomo shook hectares fenced first All planted scant rainfall nothing This hectares planted sorghum another The sever seven drought parched Botswana prompted massive relief rural areas officially ended Buagkomo believes rains still returned normal levels Veering curving bordering fields Buagkomo drove truck straight bumpy newly plowed earth bordering barbed fence He explained satisfied original brute force creating track quite straighter If there something crooked I straighten laughing truck wildly pitched forth rough terrain Closer pointed where planned erect shade netting overhead sprinklers hectares vegetables market nearby Jwaneng Several attempts drill borehole wells water resulted costly holes ground confessed Yet remains undaunted plans future improvements We agriculture Buagkomo There encourage population cities Naturally there migration countryside Instead giving money create industry cities attract people should people create His Josephine created local employment She manages chicken sells about dozen shops bakeries Jwaneng Kanye The fresher those trucked Gaborone readily finds buyers Her chickens however South African suppliers Buagkomo person among Botswana people He ideal government trying promote A manager hands approach Sophisticated experience agriculture Dedicated doing creating productive nation educated elite farming traditional activities tradition lacking statu wealth Rural looking people because young attracted urban areas And right The clothes urban population looks young plowing sorghum field donkeys Better petrol filler Gaborone there cynical unemployed nicely dressed teenager outside Gaborone supermarket A M Sealetsa former mayor Jwaneng Buagkomo veranda night tried explain there educated experienced people agriculture Frank friends Frank comrades think inferior raising sheep plowing fields Sealetsa They occupation If farmer doesn matter attend school think someone socially If producing prices salaries becomes difficult arrangement I think Buagkomo could declared national heros their efforts produce They struggling uphill battle according economic facts Botswana Statistics boring explain According latest government figures Botswana import percent vegetables products consumed country mostly South Africa percent Botswana farms small scale almost third hectares percent hectares minimum necessary household sufficiency years reasonable rains In drought years domestic production supplied percent country annual cereal requirements sorghum That percentage risen higher recent years The entire country production sorghum remains least twice importing higher quality grain South Africa The government recognizing advantage growing drought resistant sorghum spent I00 million about million dollars since Accelerated Rainfed Agricultural Programme promote Most agronomists experts I talked acknowledge program provide draft animals implements fencing rural farmers improved their ability crops Nonetheless bumper Botswana enough sorghum needs And government marketing board stuck surpluses because artificially price sorghum Consumers shifted their preference wheat domestic demand sorghum precipitously dropped imported foods skyrocketed By lending about million about US million agricultural sector during decade state National Development Bank losses after farmers defaulted Most credit those their money after harvests Mercifully foreclose those farmers Under tough policy outlined national however government intends seize their staked assets There other programs ended ignominy The government money people uproot stumps program designed increase croplands Not unexpectedly millions people ripped forests trees never intended Environmental havoc crops reaped under Accelerated Rainfed Arable Programme began ARAP means preventing collapse agriculture forestalling wholesale migration rural areas according government Money given farmers hectare sorghum planted sending people fields little expectation harvest F figures those above there quiet dramatic announcement Botswana government charting country future agricultural policy While previous programs aspired creating sufficiency officials admit country sufficient Ever So given instead struggle defined security Given weather conditions which farmers soils Quett Masire Botswana president become quite apparent sufficiency cannot achieved without massive subsidization production process A nation spirit suffer admission country never itself always outside purchases donations The security pragmatic realization agricultural sector suffered disaster rural dwellers fleeing their desiccated fields loans subsidies encourage production wasted People living somehow Speaking month graduation exercises Botswana College Agriculture Masire farmers traditional agricultural sector fully integrated market system produce surplus their living income derived Another member government assistant minister local government lands housing meeting Jwaneng farmers continued subsistence sorghum areas where economical He explained audience Though sorghum major drought resistant country would useless overproduce floods market Now government plans create rural income generation employment based growing selling commercial crops peanuts sunflowers money imported South Africa Following principle comparative advantage Botswana concentrate producing crops raising livestock selling mineral wealth foreign exchange imports Government guaranteed prices sorghum about percent while prices sunflower seeds peanuts about amount In essence future Botswana rural people making enough money instead growing enough themselves That perilous transition individual income fails without harvest The government recognizing danger announced national strategic grain reserve created store months prevent famine crops I asked minister agriculture Daniel Kwelagobe reserve would place You would thought I asked about nuclear missile silos grain silos After exchanging significant assistant Kwelagobe subjects pertained national security could discussed On other subject however Kwelagobe forthcoming I asked point blank government admitting failed provide people Yes I think spent quite sufficiency policy arrangements really without getting benefit Kwelagobe If I example producing sorghum country farmer government couldn other country because cheaper produce there We expecting people produce sorghum areas where really right I scratch If right sorghum resort soils wouldn anything Then forget about sorghum concentrate livestock whatever upkeep retorted Without prices sorghum I asked wouldn government livelihood marginal farmers without cattle Kwelagobe getting tired questioning The small subsistence farmer growing sorghum continue wearily The important thing larger farmers would peanuts sunflower cotton sugar suitable areas while industries crushing sunflower seeds would created Even rearing cattle government wants people diversify dairy piggeries poultry various other husbandry Maybe farming instance keeping So think broad accommodate people And uneducated peasants change their familiar crops beans sorghum peanuts cotton Among government agricultural demonstrato charged explaining assisting these innovations there almost percent vacancy Nobody wants Most farmers I spoke described these government staffers unmotivated useless In defense extension workers government points administering relief during drought years little overworked demonstrators assist farmers improved techniques program fully recover If private banks agricultural community National Development Bank lends literate larger farmers assets collateral poorest people countryside opportunity inclination beekeeping growing sunflowers They excluded diversification program while price support traditionally grown underneath I almost rumbling rupture socia strata being split apart San Andreas fault opening during earthquake Maybe think I reacting After while peasants assisted growing sorghum always their cattle times Although everyone agrees Botswana desert country highly erratic rainfall soils there comparative advantage nation cattle raising The question however nowadays There previous government program aimed transform rural instead ended widening between wealth traditionally measured terms cattle became concentrated hands absentee landowners urban elite The continued widen today based first major fracture Initially hailed European development experts progressive reform would promote better management cattle reduce overgrazing cattle Tribal Lands Grazing Policy adopted exactly reverse allowing dramatic increase herds devastating environment The government handed about parcels previously common local communities thought better livestock husbandry Their qualifications apparently based their accounts Most TGLP ranches taken relatively wealthy people intention being modern cattle ranchers British agricultural researcher worried about losing government financed I quoted Most people In widely circulated story related hectare ranches given people appeared because produced stack registrations As successful owner allocation meeting story handed stack outside There political realization moving fewer fewer hands while access people eventually disappear unnameable British agronomist continued The prospects staying making living nowadays Rural people better massive migration continues communal lands The stock limitations drafted original TGLP proposal expatriate advisors eliminated Instead fencing required their lease wisely limiting their herds these TGLP ranchers scrambled drill boreholes provide water their growing numbers animals The pattern continues A tragedy commons created using phrase coined 1960s American expert Garrett Hardin describe abuse common resources individual feels responsible conserve Instead healthy cattle ranchers poorer quality animals When private holdings denuded grass large herds moved communal lands destroy pasturage there The result ecological nightmare uncontrolled growth until carrying capacity reached creating overgrazing conditions I along roadside Botswana While cattle massive during drought years small living communal lands entire seven The national cattle grown again years estimated million animals national owned percent population Many minority these their TGLP ranches politicians civil servants community leaders administer environmental could conceivably limit overgrazing There conflict interest there prevents closing loophole allows grazing rights On other percent poorest rural households cattle whatsoever Okay I plane ticket monthly daily bread being Institute Current World Affairs I aware about present state affairs Southern Africa But I boring statistics I compelled background history emphasize dramatic social dislocation occurred cattle culture Botswana almost rural population doesn single The understanding Botswana present ecological predicament persistence traditional cultural features elimination others Colonialism lighter touch Botswana unlike other African nations British empire As protectorate country lonized usual There weren large numbers white settlers taking large tracts farming native population Zimbabwe South Africa Life pretty before except innovation today heart environmental degradation country Cattle became commercial commodity bought money Traditionally cattle everything Botswana society Ownership cattle means while cattle signified nobody Cows bride prices fines killed eaten important ceremonies And while cattle could grazed large areas grassland which abundance Botswana crops grown better soils The importance cattle pattern farming unlike other world called three system Cattle crops central village located separate locations cattle ields reduce losing everything drought safety times This three system rotating people animals place place acted natural ecological balance prevent overuse Figure The three system traditionally Botswana A Geography Botswana David G May Gaborone MacMillan There cultural institutions helped conserve environmental resources traditional world One kgotla where villagers could argue about disputes water rights allocation other collective issues under direction chief In consensus reached supervised grazing cattle hectare The other traditional practice mafisa which cattle loaned extended periods wealthy those fewer The herders their draft power occasional Thus mafisa dispersed wider cattle together families Mafisa loans means forging economic political relationships preventing disruptive inequalities developing society The tribal chiefs while still holding tremendous prestige rural population today longer control allocation correct misuse common pastures In independent Botswana government allocation powers chiefs tribal boards which administer smaller district boards The local district council chief tribal kotla ministry local government lands appoint people board The boards disputes involving issues authority intervene overgrazed The still strong binding network social obligations involving mafisa cattle cattle should moved TGLP ranches remain overgraze communal areas For example mayor Jwaneng began father TGLP ranch How truly I asked Cattle accounts Would I savings began indirect reply Our country desert water though borehole So friends family Please please there people using borehole You lenient But headboys addition their salaries In where graze Another wealthy cattle owner outlined problems borehole If I honest I I cattle ranch especially during drought grass But I problems I drill three boreholes before striking water I rebate still I expected If I cattle I would unable cover repayments The meaning international assistance pointed To assist Botswana struggle dependence South Africa European Economic Community Botswana quota export subsidy times above world price That economic incentive livestock numbers overutilisation massive cattle rains The World Bank financed loans boreholes ranch leases three major livestock development projects Botswana Brazilian range management expert Joao Queiroz professor environmental science University Botswana believes basis Botswana overgrazing tragedy difference between commercial communal ranching A commercial rancher raise cattle market while traditional ncher trying maximize number livestock often quality The government expected productivity increase cattle abattoir export because assumed TGLP ranchers would commercially minded Instead owners traditional their fathers There backward bending supply curve accounts culling cattle owners Queiroz sketching backward C graph indicate sharply reversed trend imaginary point See price increases commercial farmer would cattle bigger profit But traditional farmer sells higher prices since raises money sells needs weddings taxes A would rather invest Standard supply curve Backward bending supply Figure An increase price product under consideration usually results change supplied involving movement point another A B fixed supply curve From Economics Campbell R McConnell New York McGraw Hill I asked Queiroz simple question short respite technical concepts What social impact making communal private property During discussion overgrazing species encroachment carrying capacity supply curves I forgotten nationality expert I talking His answer however think miles rural slums encircling Sao Paulo It scene major problem because people drill borehole fence wealthy There concentration wealth start getting shantytowns South America history cattle being concentrated hands What future Botswana capacity produce In terms cattle answer clear The government contains strong worded warning grazing rights large owners eliminated Kwelagobe although powerful senior official holding reins ministry agriculture seems helpless close loophole It sensible thing I something definitively decided After drought destroyed their cattle those living outside cities flocking sheep goats which Botswana Meat Commission better prices before The outcome degradation explains Queiroz Because there outcome goats As browser primarily while grazers cattle grass primarily Look along roadside goats nibbling bushes grazing grass The future Botswana farming seems The dreams nightmares production Botswana centered Mpandamatenga plains country northeast corner where falls abundance There government invested about million state underwritten loans assist farmers clearing plowing planting grasslands Officials believed could supply percent nation grain needs further I0 million spent build towering grain silos harvests The bumper never materialised probably never Driving north kilometers Francistown second largest Botswana I noticed coarse terrain scrub brush began thicken taller trees farther I drove rented The grain silos village Mpandamatenga distance towering thick forest mopane trees Suddenly trees either parted curtain reveal horizon horizon fields Southern Plain Divided farms about acres place monotony endless cornfields Iowa The confining trees close again around village claustrophobic feeling after those sweeping distances scenery opens again central plain Even larger first farms middle plain holds enormous farms totalling almost acres stretch farther After month government funded investigation Mpandamatenga outside British consulting concluded final report matters scheme likely deteriorate rapidly About percent farms poorly managed point insolvency study while chance scheme government program invest million approximately US million The problem facing farmers there which fertile black cotton differ anything Botswana If farmer waits after rains begin fields quagmires tractors sticky None farmers previous experience The report concludes standards management obligatory Mpandamatenga farming enterprises survive The already beleaguered farmers greater difficulties subsidized price sorghum since percent plains planted sorghum Then switch growing unfamiliar And change problematic since tolerant Mpandamatenga peculiarities sorghum Maize requires careful management reduce simultaneously drought waterlogging flooding which affect maize sorghum report warns Despite increased grown because without projected maize production would impossib construct argument defence maintaining Mpandamatenga The gloomy message probable failure comes official study while farmers angrily defend themselves against growing public criticism It Gaborone money going realize feeding public Louis Mulder reputed successful manager Mpandamatenga If support going people I waited about Mulder thatched rondavel watching heavy downpour countryside marsh Mulder arrived drenched covered He walked wheel drive pickup fields night The government mustn close their hands farmers Mulder earnestly The farmers Gaborone managers management But there farmers their money Mulder three farms where cultivates about hectares leases another hectares other landowners But despite apparent success recently returned Gaborone after negotiations reschedule million outstanding loans Does Mulder think Mpandamatenga failure Counting fingers calculated while neighbors repaid their loans Successful farming almost likely Despite gloomy outlook government plans expand farming scheme another hectares third immense plain although report cautioned against because existing problems Environmentalists argue against expansion because farming would destroy wildlife habitats migration routes endangered birds animals Mulder other farmers oppose expansion fearing dwindling government assistance would stretched But Kwelagobe supports expansion looking I government abandoning farmers Mpandamatenga anywhere country emphasizing management improve Population worrisome because could mouths happen living country soils Sincerely RECEIVED HANOVER