Food And agriculture Organisation Country Programming Framework for Botswana
FAO’s Assistance Record in Botswana
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- 3.2.2 Field Programme Development and Assistance
- 3.2.3 FAO Investment Programme
- 4 CPF PRIORITY AREAS, PLANNED OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS
- 4.1.1 Outcome 1: Crop production and productivity improved
- 4.1.2 Outcome 2: Food availability improved
3.2 FAO’s Assistance Record in Botswana3.2.1 Animal Disease Control & Emergency Response OperationOne of the flagship programmes of FAO support to Botswana has been assistance in the area of disease control. This includes the Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) surveillance project (TCP.BOT/2801) which helped to upgrade the serological facilities at the national veterinary diagnostic laboratory to perform large scale testing and provide information on FMD disease status and therefore ensuring the development of contingency plans. At regional level FAO has provided expertise to harmonize the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat positions in preparation of SADC FMD appeal for Technical and Financial assistance. 3.2.2 Field Programme Development and AssistanceThe FAO has provided support to many TCP projects, in the area of capacity building at institutional level. This has benefited many agencies and was done through engaging local consultants. Examples include the following:
3.2.3 FAO Investment ProgrammeThe greatest achievement in this area has been the provision of assistance in the preparation of MTIP and formulation of Bankable Project in support of the CAADP implementation (TCP/BOT/2902 (I)). This project helped in the development of five bankable project proposals for possible financing by international institutions. 4 CPF PRIORITY AREAS, PLANNED OUTCOMES AND OUTPUTS4.1 Priority Area 1: Poverty reduction for improved food and nutrition securityThe key features of the poverty problem in Botswana include the following:
Vulnerability to poverty is highest amongst the young and old, households with little or no education and training and female-headed households. Other concerns are of a policy and institutional nature. For instance, data capabilities are weak, as are the technical and oversight capacities of the Multi-Sectoral Committee on Poverty Reduction (MSCPR) and other Government departments; the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction (NSPR) is not integrated into the National Development Plan; critical poverty issues such as environmental and social protection are not adequately integrated into the NSPR, and the evidence-based research and analysis is weak. In keeping with its mandate and expertise, FAO's main direct contribution would be in the reduction of poverty and the reduction of hunger (MDG 1) through improving agricultural productivity; promoting better nutritional practices at all levels; and, promoting programmes that enhance direct and immediate access to food by those with the highest need. 4.1.1 Outcome 1: Crop production and productivity improvedKey issues and challenges Poverty in Botswana is a rural problem. The main reason for this is that the majority of the rural dwellers depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Unfortunately, the agricultural sector, especially the arable sub-sector has performed poorly, in terms of both output and productivity. As a result of this, the majority of agricultural households are net food buyers and hence food insure insecure and poor. For example, in 2007 arable production contributed only 7% to household income of agricultural households. At present smallholder arable production is so inefficient that it can-not be profitable without heavy input subsidies from the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD). This level of support is clearly not sustainable, especially with declining government revenues from the mineral sector. While the ISPAAD programme and other similar programmes before it were able to increase area planted for arable crops significantly, the same can-not be said about productivity. Productivity has remained to be very low with little or no improvement especially in smallholder farming. Efforts are therefore needed to raise productivity levels in smallholder agriculture. Evidence suggests that productivity levels can be improved significantly, to levels at which smallholder arable production can be profitable even without heavy reliance on government support. This can be achieved through the adoption of modern farming technologies which have been proved to produce high output at low costs in neighbouring countries with similar agro-ecological conditions. FAO support is needed to deliver the following outputs: Output 1: Enhanced technical capacity of MoA to manage the agricultural aspect of the implementation of the NSPR The implementation of NSPR is not well coordinated in the MoA. FAO assistance in this regard will be on building capacity of MoA staff concerned with the implementation of NSPR projects. This will involve first and foremost capacity needs assessment of the staff concerned with implementation of NSPR. The FAO assistance will then be needed to train trainers in all agricultural districts on policy formulation and implementation. These trainers will then train other officers in their respective districts who are involved with the implementation of NSPR. Output 2 Poverty reduction agenda included in district agricultural development plans FAO assistance on this aspect will be on the training of district development teams on inclusionto include of poverty agenda on their district development plans. 4.1.2 Outcome 2: Food availability improvedKey issues and challenges As stated earlier the majority of smallholder farmers are net food buyers because they produce insufficient food crops to meet their demands. As a result of this, GoB has set up programmes in which vulnerable groups are assisted to prevent them from starvation. These programmes include the school feeding, pregnant women and mothers, labour based relief (Ipelegeng) and food coupon systems provided to destitutes and orphans. These programmes ensure that the vulnerable groups have access to food at all times. The challenge is ensuring that the programmes cover all the vulnerable groups adequately. It is therefore important to make sure that food is available to these households at all times to prevent hunger. The food must not only be available, but access to it must also be ensured, either through commercial imports or food aid. In order to make food available at all times, it is important to ensure that mechanisms are in place to improve the use of early warning systems which will detect any impending food shortages well in time. This will ensure that the country is well prepared to respond to impeding food shortages brought by agricultural emergencies such as droughts and floods. FAO assistance will be required to improve GoB response to food and agricultural emergencies. This could be achieved through increased use of early warning systems which will increase preparedness and hence effective response to food deficits. Thus, FAO assistance will be required to achieve the following outputs.
FAO has assisted the GoB in agricultural emergencies, especially animal diseases. This includes Foot and Mouth Disease Surveillance project (TCP/BOT/2301) which helped to upgrade the diagnostic serological facilities at the National Veterinary Laboratory to perform large scale testing, delineate the extend of the FMD outbreak, provide information on FMD status of adjacent areas and thereby provide options for control/eradication strategies. It is expected that the FAO will continue to support GoB in FMD and other emergency disease outbreaks. Assistance by FAO can be extended to crop diseases to ensure food availability and control of major pests. Assistance by FAO will also be in the preparation of a contingency plan for food and agricultural emergencies. This document will act as a guide as to what should be done in case of an agricultural or food emergency. Output 2.2 Increased use of early warning systems to improve preparedness for effective response to food deficits. The use of early warning systems ensures proper and timely response to food deficits arising from natural disasters such as droughts and floods. The use of early warning systems will indicate areas likely to be food deficit because of climatic disasters and hence trigger contingency plans well in time. This will prevent unexpected food deficits. FAO assistance will be required in the operation and the use of early warning system so as to collect and analyse information that will assist in detecting any disasters that might occur and better prepare for such likely disasters. This output is intrinsically linked with UNDAF country programme output of enhanced disaster risk reduction and preparedness capacities at all levels. Directory: osd -> CPF CPF -> Food security for all osd -> Office of the Secretary Defense (osd) 16. 2 Small Business Innovation Research (sbir) Direct to Phase II proposal Instructions osd -> Comparative testing office projects announced Download 216.97 Kb. Share with your friends:
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