Its early to judge ISPAAD - De Graaff

GABORONE - Parliament has been informed that the ploughing season has not ended yet, but 90 000 hectares or 34 per cent of the anticipated 260 000 hectares have been ploughed.
Responding to a question from Mogoditshane MP Patrick Masimolole, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Christian De Graaff said the figure was expected to rise as both planting and measuring of fields continued.
Mr De Graaff said 2000 privately owned tractors were registered to assist farmers with ploughing and planting under the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) although many experienced frequent breakdowns.
Mr De Graaff said 78 164 farmers benefited from both the free and subsidised seed component of ISPAAD scheme while 7 632 benefited from the fertilizer component.
Another 31 212 benefited from the tree and subsidised ploughing, harrowing and planting component, adding that the figure was expected to increase as field measurement continued.
He said some of the farmers benefited from more than one scheme and therefore could have been counted twice.
He said it was still early to know whether the ISPAAD scheme had been successful since implementation had just started.
The success of the scheme, Mr De Graaff said, is in achieving its objectives of food security as well as employment creation and can only be determined after it has been operational for some time.
He said preliminary assessment of ISPAAD indicated it was viable as demonstrated by the level of participation of farmers in the scheme as well as the hectors planted despite the dry spell that befell the country during November and early December.
ISPAAD is being closely monitored and its evaluation will be undertaken to establish its viability, he said.
MP Masimolole had asked the minister say how many hectares were ploughed during the just ended ploughing season and how many tractors were engaged.
He further asked the minister to state the total number of farmers who benefited from the ISPAAD and whether or not the scheme was successful.
He also wanted the minister to state if the scheme was viable.