- Calls for immediate payment of outstanding dues by BAMB Or risk a nationwide agricultural collapse
- Farmers delivered an estimated 120,000 tonnes of assorted grains since April
- They are owed an estimated P260 million to P300 million in unpaid dues
- Both small-scale and large-scale farmers are said to be consequently facing collapse
The Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association on behalf of all the grain farmers in the nation has issued a dire warning to government and the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB), calling for immediate payment of outstanding dues owed to grain producers across the country or risk a nationwide agricultural collapse.
“This is no longer a warning. It is a plea: grain farmers across Botswana must be paid immediately by the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB),” the association said in a strongly worded statement titled “Botswana’s Grain Farmers on the Brink.”
Since April, Botswana’s farmers have delivered an estimated 120,000 tonnes of assorted grains, including over 80,000 tonnes of sorghum, to BAMB. Of that, more than 53,000 tonnes of sorghum, 3,000 tonnes of cowpeas, and 2,000 tonnes of maize were supplied “in good faith,” yet payments worth between P260 million and P300 million remain unpaid. “It could be much more since official volumes are not disclosed,” the association noted.
The group warned that with the rains already here, many farmers are unable to prepare for the 2025/2026 crop season. “With no cash, and no support, there is now a real risk that for the first time in history, Botswana may not plant the 2025/2026 crops,” the statement said. “The consequences are unthinkable: collapsing farm operations, mass job losses, and a shattered agricultural sector.”
The farmers described the situation as a national crisis that extends far beyond individual livelihoods. “Farming is not just another business. It is high-risk, capital-intensive, and already starved of affordable credit in Botswana,” they said.
According to the association, many farmers are surviving on overdrafts with interest rates as high as Prime + 9%, while continuing to pay workers, fuel tractors, and transport grain. “Their own pockets are empty, while the only players who are winning big from this chaos are the banks through the penalties and interest charges that they never stop or decrease,” the statement continued.
Both small-scale and large-scale farmers are said to be facing collapse. Those without access to credit from NDB or CEDA, who rely solely on cash flow, “are already out of business.” The statement added that, “When a farmer does not receive payments, the entire value chain is deeply impacted – if farmers do not produce sorghum next year – the next businesses to fall will be the traditional small milling businesses.”
The association underscored that “to transform agriculture, a country needs strong farmers, successful farmers, capacitated farmers,” warning that “the ripple effect of the current crisis initiated by an imploded BAMB is already spreading across the value chain — from jobs and rural livelihoods to food security itself.”
“If the crisis is not resolved immediately, farmers will not be able to start planting within the next 2–6 weeks,” the statement warned. “Botswana risks an unprecedented disaster: the 2025/2026 crop season may not happen at all.”
The farmers framed the issue as one of national survival, not just delayed payments. “It is about protecting Botswana’s food security and safeguarding the agricultural sector’s credibility,” they wrote, adding that if government is serious about raising agriculture’s contribution to GDP “from 3% to 6%-1%, then BAMB, the Ministries of Lands and Agriculture, Finance, and Trade and Entrepreneurship, and financial institutions such as NDB and CEDA must treat farming as the business it is.”
The association stressed that farmers have delivered their produce “in good faith,” after a strong harvest that followed last year’s devastating drought. “Instead of being celebrated, farmers now find themselves abandoned and being forced to subsidize government failure with personal debt, while BAMB and ministries remain silent. This is not just irresponsible — it is reckless.”
Since February 2025, they said, both the Botswana Grain Producers Association and the Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association “sent numerous letters, attended endless meetings, and exchanged countless messages with dozens of governmental officials, at the highest levels possible, but still, no solution has reached the ground until now.”
The statement concludes with a direct appeal to government: “Botswana cannot afford to watch its grain sector collapse. Rainfed farmers cannot have the luxury of missing out a potential good rainy season, so urgent financing must be secured now — whether through government, banks, or emergency measures — to pay farmers and suppliers without any further delay.”
“Silence, delays, and excuses will not plant crops,” the farmers declared. “If Botswana is truly serious about raising agriculture’s contribution to GDP, then action must start with one simple step: pay the farmers. Now.”
They warned that “the credibility of BAMB and Government is on the line,” adding: “If this crisis is not resolved immediately, history will record that Botswana’s grain sector collapsed not because farmers failed but because Government failed them.”
