“Potatoes Are The New Diamonds”-Shangwa

The Ministry of Youth, Sport, Gender and Culture (MYSC) through the Francistown District Office hosted a potato growing workshop poised to transform Botswana’s food security. The workshop, held on Monday and Tuesday was gearing up youth for a 4-month project of growing potatoes in 50 kg plastic bags.

Potato bag farming is said to bear much larger yields than on land, notwithstanding the convenience of using less space for more produce. The project is facilitated by Farmer’s Pride International (FPI ) in partnership with an agricultural college, Compstar college. FPI is a youth-focused agriculture organisation implementing agroecology systems in agriculture for agroecological transformation.

When giving a word of encouragement to youth participants, Deputy Mayor of the City of Francistown, Honourable Lesego Kwambala, assured attendees of the Council’s support. Kwambala said, “We are going to be part of the project and ensure that the project becomes a success.” He emphasised the need to fund young people in clusters and not individuals to curb business failure rates.

For her part, MYSC Francistown District Coordinator, Ms Tiny Tamasiga-Gontse, said “MYSC is duty-bound to develop young people, in alignment with the National Youth Policy which calls for us to have strong partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and NGOs.”

The workshop was facilitated by the founder of FPI, Mr Elfas Mcloud Z. Shangwa. The agriculture investor has high hopes for the potato bag farming initiative as he believes it will lessen unemployment and create a whole industry of potato farmers.