Reimag ing business for women enterpreneurs: Opportunities in Agriculture webinar

Women are now heavily involved in most agricultural production and the aim to propel them into the agribusiness industry. Absa Botswana is committed to transform women’s agricultural activities from subsistence farming to feasible commercial farming.
Agribusiness ensures food security, employment creation and sustainable growth for a country. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women comprise over 40 percent of the global agricultural workforce and are crucial stakeholders in agribusiness value chains around the world.
However, women still face challenges such as lack of financial assistance, lack of land, lack of resources in the industry despite their contributions. Empowering women with appropriate knowledge and access to farming resources can contribute towards the business benefits in the value chain.
Absa Botswana plans to contribute towards the growth of women in agribusiness and in such efforts held a webinar on their Facebook page offering a platform to all women to stipulate opportunities in the agribusiness.
Thomas Harvey, the head of Agribusiness mentioned that it is vital to make us of these opportunities because Botswana imports 97 percent of food products from South Africa. Botswana needs to strengthen its food security.
The opportunities presented were horticulture especially tomatoes, cabbages and potatoes. Secondly, fishery can also be an opportunity as Botswana consumes 4 000 tonnes offish despite only producing 300 tonnes. Other opportunities according to Harvey are milk production (99 percent of fresh milk is imported from South Africa), breeding stock (Agriculture contributes 2 percent of the country’s GDP & 80 per of it is from livestock farming), growing grains, manufacturing animal feeds, fertilizers, commercial small stock farming and food processing (yoghurt, cheese & frozen vegetables).
Lastly, one of Absa’s shining example, Basadi Molelekeng, was a guest speaker in the webinar. She is a successful commercial farmer in Pandamatenga in a 500-hector land for 5 years.  She had been financed by Absa to accomplish her dreams of being a fully fledged farmer. She too has experienced the hurdles of being stereotyped as a female farmer especially in Pandamatenga where it is mostly dominated by men. It is through her perseverance, hard work and dedication that she managed to keep afloat and she encourages all women to follow suit.
FMB