Botswana needs to grow its own fruit
Importing fruit and reselling it locally to individuals and other businesses is the norm in Botswana…Importing fruit and reselling it locally to individuals and other businesses is the norm in Botswana. But one man decided to buck the trend:
Mr Thompson Majoo decided to produce fruits locally and sell them to meet the market demand.
Speaking to BOPA in an interview, he said he has always had a passion for agriculture whilst growing as a young boy. Luck struck when his father decided to help him make his passion a dream come true by buying him fruit trees to plant.
"We bought 375 orange trees which cost P3 each for our farm and now the trees have increased and there are more than what we started with. Not only do I harvest oranges but also vegetables." he noted.
Some of his clients are Manyanda Butchery, orphans under the sub-council, local shops in Tonota as well as small scale retailers.
His farming has also created employment for Botswana, as he has employed eight people on his farm.
Mr Majoo said he is really pained that money leaves the country to buy fruits from outside and his wish is that the money could circulate among the local people and this can only happen if they produce their own.