BITC CEO pays a courtesy call on BOLUX GROUP
As part of the organization’s Investor After Care, BITC CEO Mr. Keletsositse Olebile and his delegation paid a courtesy call to Bolux Group in Ramotswa. The purpose of the visit was to appreciate the company’s operations as well as to engage on how the company can further be assisted and facilitated by BITC. This is part of the ongoing aftercare visits by the CEO to engage with some investors on the successes, challenges they encounter, and opportunities to further expand.
Bolux Group, established in 1985, is Botswana’s largest maize and wheat milling company. The company takes pride in producing a range of high-quality products including A1 Super Maize Meal, A1 Instant Porridge, Snowhite Flour, Pasta King, Maxi Bread, GO Bread, Chobe Maize Rice, Samp, and Chobe Super Special Maize Meal amongst others. For over 35 years, Bolux Group has been successfully providing the nation with nutritious and delicious food products, contributing immensely to food security in the country.
Bolux Group produces maize and wheat products with the entire production and packaging process taking place on-site in Ramotswa, with depot infrastructures at Palapye, Francistown, and Maun. As a non-mining entity, Bolux is an industrial company that significantly contributes to Botswana’s economy. It plays an essential role in the country’s economic diversification and industrialization efforts.
Speaking after being taken on a tour of the plant, Mr. Olebile said his visit was to further entrench relations and is part of his visits to check on the well-being of valued investors. He committed that BITC will continue to assist and facilitate BOLUX Group, which has for a long time benefitted through the Botswana One Stop Service Centre – BOSSC.
BOLUX Group Managing Director Mr. Christo Ellis welcomed the visit and thanked BITC for their continued support. He however noted a few challenges that they face in their industry and asked BITC to be their voice, to address some of the challenges.
Bolux is the largest supplier of animal feed to the beef sector, supplying farmers, feedlots (BMC), and the Government. The company is committed to buying local crops and supporting local farmers in commercial farming activities. Although local farmers only provide a small fraction of Bolux’s needs, the company is committed to contributing more meaningfully to this sector and helping grow that part of the economy.
GRAIN PRICES SKYROCKETING
Local consumers must brace themselves for price shocks on their favourite foodstuff, an official has said.
Botswana Millers Association (BMA) chairman, Christo Ellis indicated that the milling industry is under extreme pressure as global grain prices are skyrocketing as the war in Ukraine has shutdown supply chains and increased nervousness around the globe.
Globally, wheat prices have increased by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and maize prices by 21%. On top of this oil prices have increased from US$ 78 per barrel beginning of January 2022 to US$ 111 per barrel beginning of March 2022. All of this is extremely bad news for already financially distressed consumers.
Mr Ellis promises consumers that local millers are doing their utmost best to absorb as much of these costs as they possibly can, but that it is impossible to avoid price corrections of finished goods to the trade.
The Botswana Millers Association has identified the high percentage of food wastage in the country as an area where all players in the supply chain has a role to play. High damages and returns are forcing millers to look at stricter methods to reduce food wastage, but millers also make an appeal to all players in the food supply chain to be vigilant when it comes to waste reduction as this is resulting in an increase in the import bill and the cost of production.
The Botswana Millers Association also plea with consumers to always buy and insist on locally produced products. This is the only way to ensure protection of local jobs, creation of new ones and adding value to the economy in total.
Can aquaponics help fill Botswana’s food basket?
Despite its mineral wealth especially diamonds, Botswana is failing to produce enough food to feed its people. This has often led to starvation and malnutrition especially among the underprivileged communities. The mining sector is the highest contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as it stands at 35 percent while agriculture only contributes around 3 percent primarily through beef exports. Relying on other countries for food imports has since proved to a challenge as the situation is exacerbated by the effects of the current Covid 19 pandemic. Food prices are escalating due to this pandemic. The latest information from Statistics Botswana shows that food imports amounted to over P700 million as at April 2021.
One of the reasons why the country is dismally failing through its agriculture sector to meet its food demand is that farmers are frequently faced with an unreliable climate which often brings about devastating droughts. Botswana is also made up of three quarters desert (Kalahari Desert) and the arid temperature which is not conducive for crop production. Some of the few crops that are supported by this hostile environment are cowpeas, millet, beans, sorghum and maize. Pastoral farming has also been deeply affected by droughts over the years. Given the challenging climate change which has impacted on food production worldwide, new methods of farming such as aquaponics could be the answer to this problem. Aquaponic is a method of farming or food production that couples aquaculture (raising of aquatic animals among others fish, prawns, cray fish and even snails in fishponds or tanks) with hydroponics (in-house growing crops). The nutrients from the aquaculture water are transferred to hydroponic grown plants, involving nitrifying bacteria for converting. Here are some of the advantages of aquaponics farming; One can only use a sixth of water to grow eight times more food per hectare than traditional methods of farming, it uses natural fertilizer from fish waste, there is no reliance from manufactured fertilizers, it is sustainable and highly productive and does not require a lot of land to produce more.
Botswana imports nearly 3 000 tonnes of fish per annum while local fish production stands at 100 tonnes. The country also imports most of its food especially vegetables, fruits and dairy. Aquaponics can come in handy in that regard. According to history, aquaponics was started by the Maya and Aztec Indians who grew plants on rafts on the surface of a lake around 1000 AD in Mexico. Although its adoption today is still at infancy stage, this type of farming is slowly gaining momentum worldwide. Countries that are already thriving through this method of farming include Myanmar, Peru, Germany and even Israel.
Source: Sunday Standard
Link: Can aquaponics help fill Botswana’s food basket? | Sunday Standard
China looks forward to expanding agricultural exchange and cooperation with Botswana
China looks forward to expanding agricultural exchange and cooperation with Botswana under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and stands ready to provide assistance within its capacity for Botswana’s agricultural development, Chinese ambassador to Botswana Zhao Yanbo said Friday.
Speaking at an agricultural forum in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, Zhao said China has always attached great importance to the development of agriculture.
“At present, food security is threatened by three challenges — the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the locust plagues and extreme weathers. As a result, international food production and supply have been severely affected. The food security problem has never been so alarming and countries around the world, developing countries in particular, must fulfill the urgent task of building a self-sufficient agriculture sector,” the ambassador said.
China pledged to support Africa in achieving general food security by 2030 through the FOCAC. He said China and Botswana are planning to jointly formulate Botswana’s agricultural development strategy and some farmers in the country are already profiting from agricultural business with China by exporting farm products.
He also encouraged Botswana’s agricultural business operators to make full use of platforms such as the China International Import Expo and the China Import and Export Fair to explore trade opportunities with China.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency
Minister Kgafela impressed by Bolux Group PTY Ltd
The Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Honourable Mmusi Kgafela expressed delight by Bolux Group facilities in Taung following his tour of the Bolux facilities to appreciate the challenges they faced. Minister Kgafela said the company played a significant role in the country’s economy. The Minister was impressed by the state of art equipment installed by Bolux Group for their production. He said Government was devoted to facilitating local businesses with a conductive environment to trade in. He emphasized the need to reduce importation of some of the raw materials they use but rather source them locally as this will help to create employment for the citizens and grow the local economy.
He explained that the Ministry Officials will continue to visit both small and large traders across the country as the captains of the industry to hear about their challenges and eventually give recommendations to Government on how to assist them. He noted that, his wish is to see the business sector continue to grow and penetrate the market and thereby creating more job opportunities for Batswana.
The Group Managing Director Mr Christo Ellis said Bolux Group has been in the country for the past 36 years and currently employed over 500 workers with 430 direct workers, 120 outsourced and 68 contract workers. He added that Bolux Group produces household food brands such as Maxi Bread, Pasta King Macaroni and Spaghetti.
Mr Ellies said over the years, Bolux had been engaging with government in different issues they faced. The Managing Director said Bolux Group sees itself as a dynamic and mature industrial company that contributes meaningfully to the economy of Botswana. He also said that as a non-mining entity, the company continues to play its part in the economic diversification and industrialization efforts of Botswana. Mr Ellies highlighted that there are opportunities for further production and beneficiation of wheat milling. “Most of Botswana’s annual wheat demand is imported as the country only produces up to 144000 tonnes of wheat,” he said. Bolux Group ensures that its products are delivered and made available throughout the entire country. The company intends to invest 250 million over the next 5 years and to create more specialized jobs. The Minister was accompanied by The Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, who is also Member of Parliament for Ramotswa constituency, Honourable Lefoko Moagi and other senior government officials.
