institute of r evelopment anagement PLANNING FOR AGRICULTURE IN BOTSWANA A REPORT ON THE ARABLE LANDS SURVEY BY MARCIA ODELL If) M RESEARCH PAPER NO. 7 MAY 1980 Botswana Lesotho Swaziland THE LIBRARY, INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES PLEASE RETURN NOT LATER THAN PLANNING FOR AGRICULTURE IN BOTSWANA A REPORT ON THE ARABLE LANDS SURVEY BY MARCIA ODELL I J) M RESEARCH PAPER NO . 7 MAY 1980 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Foreword i ALS Map iii SECTION I Household Profile .............................. 1 II Implements and Inputs ........................... 8 III Farming Practices .............................. 19 IV Draft Power ..................................... 26 V Extension........................................ 36 VI Labor .............................................43 VII Land .............................................53 VIII Soil and Land Improvement, Water Resources .. 62 IX Y i e l d s ............................................ 68 APPENDIX I Mokatako (Rolong) .............................. A-l II Pelotshetlha (Ngwaketse) ....................... A-5 III Mathothwana and Mokgosi ....................... A-ll IV Dikwididi......................................... A-23 V Moiyabana and Tlhabala...........................A-27 VI Sechele.............................................A-35 VII Kalkfontein ..................................... A-38 VIII Kang................................................ A-46. IX Ngamiland......................................... A-54 < X Methodological Note.............................. A-75 XI Lands Area Agricultural Survey Questionnaire. A-78 v SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................... A-87 LIST OF TABLES Page 1 Cattle Distribution, Comparative Data 2 2 Arable Lands Survey: Household Profile 4 3 Implements Owned or Used in Arable Agriculture by Farming Households 9 4 Implement Securement Arrangements 10 5 Incidence of Plowing Households Using Own Implements, and Cattle Ownership 10 6 Area Plowed 11 7 Households Using Improved Seed and Fertilizers 12 8 Arable Lands Survey: Implements and Inputs 15 9 Improved Agricultural Practices Regularly Used by Households ' 20 10 Arable Lands Survey: Farming Practices 23 11 Distribution of Households by Type of Draft Power Used 27 12 Distribution of Households Using Different Types of Plowing Arrangements with Draft Cattle 28 13 Plowing Dates Using Different Types of Plowing Arrangements with Draft Cattle 30 14 Average Acreage Plowed by Plowing Arrangements 30 15 Arable Lands Survey: Draft Power 32 16 Farm Families and Personal Contact with Extension Agents 37 17 Arable Lands Survey: Extension 41 18 Average Per Hectare Labor Utilization (Man/Days) for the Production of Selected Crops by Agricultural Activity, 1977/78 43 19 Arable Lands Survey: Labour 46 20 Consideration of Land Sufficiency 53 21 Distribution of Agricultural Holders by Hectarage Planted 54 22 Distribution of Agricultural Holders by Hectarage Planted and Herd Size 55 23 Reported Pressure on Land, by District 56 24 Constraints to Production 57 25 Arable Lands Survey: Land 59 Arable Lands Survey: Soil and Land Improvement, Water 65 Annual Variations in Hectarage Planted of Major Crops, 1967/68 - 1971/72 68 Arable Lands Survey: Yields/Productivity 71 FOREWORD Arable Lands Survey The IDM has seen the role of policy research as an important if not crucial function in the overall promotion of development management. Policy research has an action orientation: it attempts to find answers to practical questions that concern decision makers in policy formulation and in program execution. Several years ago the IDM had discussions with key individuals in the Botswana Government about ways in which we could contribute, by means of practical research, towards the development of policies in the priority area of rural development. These discussions were extremely beneficial in helping to identify specific questions and issues affecting rural develop­ ment in Botswana. From these discussions we decided to undertake a research study of the factors affecting arable agriculture in Botswana. Little was known about actual conditions affecting arable development in Botswana particularly for the range of situations presented by a large country of such varied geographical conditions. The last major study of an arable area in Botswana was in 1974 for the Pelotshetlha area. It was decided in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and various districts, to survey some nine areas with arable potential for intensive field research. This approach was taken in order to develop a more comprehensive picture of the arable lands situation of Botswana, particularly from a socio-economic perspective. The earlier Pelotshetlha field survey questionnaire was the basic instrument used in this survey: firstly, because it dealt with arable agriculture and was well designed and field tested: secondly, because it would permit the inclusion and comparison of the Pelotshetlha data with that of other districts throughout the country. In addition the Ngamiland District was undertaking its own survey and incorporated parts of the Arable Lands Survey questionnaire. In total, field data on 1650 rural households are analyzed in this study, 1271 households surveyed in September to December, 1978, plus 379 house- holds surveyed in 1974. i The survey data were first presented to district personnel at the National District Development Committee meetings in Gaborone in December 1979 in the form of computer printout data on the lands areas surveyed in each district. The districts had the opportunity to analyze the data and to submit their comments and observations on the validity and reliabi­ lity of the data at a national workshop on the Arable Lands Survey which was held in Molepolole in February of this year. The Districts' comments and observations are extremely helpful in this written presentation of the analysis. The Districts' comments are also repro­ duced as Appendices I-IX of this report. The study's methodology is discussed in Appendix X but a few observations should be made at this point. The nine arable lands areas surveyed were fully enumerated in this study. The areas surveyed were identified on the basis that they typified arable areas in the various districts. The sampling frame was not intended to be a national sample based on random selection of households in each of the districts. We feel the results give a good comparative analysis of conditions affecting represen­ tative lands areas throughout the country. An additional advantage of selecting specific areas for full enumeration is that it establishes base line references which can later be checked to see how programs have affected arable farming practices. This study has received financial support from the International Development Research Centre and USAID. We have greatly benefited by the close collaboration and support provided by several Government Ministries, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture, both in planning the study and in the actual conduct of the field research. People in the Districts have also greatly assisted our efforts and they in turn are one of the principal client groups of the findings of this research. The list of people who have made valuable contributions to this work is very long but a few names should be noted: Peter Molosi, B.K. Temane, James Leach, George Haythorne, Jim Katarobo, Hoyt Alverson, Ray Purcell, Mac Odell, Clive Lightfoot, Bonnake Tsimako and Fred Schindeler. The principal researcher, Marcia Odell, deserves special appreciation for her dedication and resource­ fulness in carrying out this very demanding research project. J.G. Campbell, Assistant Director/ Research and Consultancy. ARABLE LANDS SURVEY 1978 1. Moijabana & Tlhabala (Central) 2. Maun (Ngamiland) 3. Sechele (N.E. District) 4. Dikwididi (Kgatleng) . 5. Mokgosi (Bamalete) 6. Mokatako (Barolong) 7. Matholwane (Tlokweng) 8. Kang (Kgalagadi) 9. Kalkfontein (Ghanzi) 10. Pelotshetlha (Ngwaketse) I. HOUSEHOLD PROFILE Background Definitions of variables of Household structure and characteristics are notoriously varied within the literature on Botswana and thus it is difficult to compare the household attributes of different studies. Nevertheless attention here is drawn to findings of several studies concerning two key variables, sex of the household head and household livestock holdings, in an attempt to provide some context against which the Arable Lands Survey findings can be'placed. The FAO Study of Constraints on Agricultural Production found that 70% of households are headed by a male, 30% by a female (FAO 1974:31). These figures differ substantially from those of the Rural Income Distribution Survey (RIDS) which suggest that more than two-fifths of households (43%) are headed by women (RIDS 1976); in subsequent analysis of the RIDS data, however, Kossoud.ji and Mueller point out that only 29% of households sampled by RIDS were actually headed by a female with no adult male present in the household. They argue that the presence or absence in a household of a male, rather than household female headednes per se, may be the crucial factor in defining and examining the female-headed household. (Kossoudji and Mueller 1979) • As for livestock holdings in Botswana, again, there i considerable variation in the findings of different studies. The Ministry of Agriculture's statistics unit found in 1979 that 32% of households held no cattle, while the Agricultural Study of 1971/72 indicated a similar figure of 30%. In contrast, the Rural Income Distribution Survey