by Staff Correspondent,

Dhaka – Bangladesh has offered contact farming services in Botswana utilizing agricultural land in the southern African landlocked country to grow more food and vegetables.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam made the offer during a mitting on Friday with Botswana Minister of Agriculture Fidelis M. Malao in Gaborone his visit to the African country, according to a foreign ministry press release.  

The release said both Bangladesh and Botswana agreed to exchange technical knowledge and training in agriculture, fisheries and aqua-culture.

Both sides also hoped to identify potential areas of cooperation in agriculture, livestock and fisheries areas.

Alam appraised the Botswana side about Bangladesh’s remarkable achievements in the agriculture sector offered the Botswana side to consider contract farming by the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in the unutilized agricultural land of Botswana.

The Botswana side expressed keen interest for concluding MoU on cooperation in agriculture and contract farming between the two countries.

During the meeting Malao invited an agricultural expert delegation from Bangladesh to visit Botswana.

According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Botswana’s climate is semi-arid, with low soil fertility, and highly variable rainfall, leading to a very low agricultural potential with only 0.65% of land area suitable for arable agriculture.

Major crops grown in Botswana are sorghum, maize, millet and cowpeas, it added.

Arable land in Botswana was reported at 260000 hectare in 2020, according to the World Bank.

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