That the vegetable importation ban imposed by government continues to harm the tourism industry is no longer in question, as the latter increasingly finds it difficult to meet client’s expectations at the dinner table.
The industry cannot source enough of the vegetables needed to effectively serve clientele, and where it does the quality and the price become another challenge.
The government’s reasoning for the ban, was to protect local production, encourage farmers and also empower them to produce more and access markets. Pundits have however, posited that the move, though with good intentions was hastily implemented before empowering and capacitating the very producers it sought to protect. This has led to the low supply, poor quality and high prices for the banned products.
Some suppliers have in the process to meet demand resorted to pre-cut vegetable mixes, which have shorter shelf lives, requiring monitoring to prevent wastage.
The industry has despite market constraints been able to commit to quality through substitutions and menu adjustments.
Luxury safari, which has for the longest time been the bedrock of Botswana’s tourism industry has for many years offered fine dining to its diverse demography of travellers, most of them discerning, by its ability to prepare food as per their requirements.
As a consequence, some in the industry have said that feedback from GuestRevu, a world renowned guest feedback platform indicates that food standards have nosedived as safari facilities cannot deliver on planned menus. There are also fears that with the seasons changing from winter into summer, there is a high possibility that camps may fail to offer guests vegetables.
The tourism industry has been in discussions with government over the vegetable moratorium, with a view to reach a common ground. However, behind the scenes and away from these engagements, it is clear that the disapproval of the ban by the industry is very, though in hushed tones loud.
At the Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) conference in April this year, the industry through the association catalogued a number of challenges that affected its operations, as has become norm at every conference, and the vegetable import ban issue featured predominantly on the list, and so was that of concession leases.
At this conference, it was even more important because President Mokgweetsi Masisi was in attendance as the guest of honour.
In his address, Masisi announced the establishment of a high level board, chaired at the highest level by himself, and dubbed the
Botswana Economic Development Board (BEDB), which will among other functions address bottlenecks affecting the investment climate in the country, while at the same time purging bad investors from various sectors – among them tourism.
The Board, he said would “deal expeditiously with any regulatory bottlenecks and delays that investors including those in the tourism sector encounter from time to time.”
The announcement brought some relief to the industry for among other things it would address the issues of lease renewals, work permits, vegetable importation ban and also remove bad players in the tourism industry.
Meanwhile, the engagement between government and the industry has continued to date over the matter, to an extent that the industry has asked for waivers to be allowed to import items that are not available locally. This is just some of the demands that the industry has made to government regarding the ban with the hope that government will give in, demands.
The Import restrictions on selected commodities
Government first placed a moratorium on the importation of some vegetables at the beginning of 2022, and was to be for a period of 2 years. The initial ban covered tomatoes, carrots, beetroots, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli pepper, butternut, water melons, sweet peppers, grain mealies and fresh herbs. This import ban was further extended to December 2025 in December 2023.
The extension of the import restriction was also increased under the extension to include patty pan, pumpkin, sweet potato, green peas, sweet corn, broccoli, cauliflower, gem squash, baby marrow, green beans, sweet melon, mushroom, calabash, spanspeck, eggplant and okra. The restriction date for the new scope runs from July 1, 2024 and will end December 31st 2025.
