The new face of farming: youth making agribusiness ‘cool’
Run a quick Google search on African women making it in business, and you will rarely find a young woman engaged in rural farming. But Mavis Nduchwa has challenged norms by founding and successfully managing a commercial animal feed farm in Botswana. Thirty-three-year-old Nduchwa, who was born on a farm in rural Francistown in eastern Botswana, near the border with Zimbabwe, developed an interest in agriculture at an early age. However, as she grew older, the allure of city life drove her to earn a degree in real estate and hospitality management. She later worked as a journalist. But given the high cost of agricultural inputs strangling her farming community, Nduchwa sensed that affordable, locally produced animal feed as a substitute for the expensive imported kind, could boost the agribusiness sector. She quit her job in the hospitality industry and teamed up with her husband Brighton Chabana to found Chabana Farms in 2011.
The Gaborone Dam has collected a few million more litres of water in the last few days, registering 22.2 per cent of water as at January 18 as compared to last year this time around which was about 1.7 per cent. This supply is enough to last for nine months without inflow to areas in the greater Gaborone. Water Utilities Corporations, communications manager, Ms Matida Mmipi said in an interview that even as the country continues to receive impressive rains, the amount is insignificant considering the demand of water in greater Gaborone area that comprises Gaborone, Lobatse, Mogoditshane cluster, Tlokweng cluster, Ramotswa cluster and Mochudi.
Bua.Space (BUA) is an online platform in Botswana that allows customers to give feedback to various businesses throughout the country. The platform is free for individual users, but companies that wish to register and communicate with consumers are required to purchase ‘response bundles’. The site encourages constructive feedback and has various measures in place to prevent abuse (from both sides of the interaction).
Gaborone — Debswana Diamond Company and Majwe Mining Joint Venture have signed a two-year contract extension to cover the period 2017 and 2018. The Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Advocate Sadique Kebonang said this in response to a question from MP for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile in Parliament last week. He said the first Debswana Diamond Company and Majwe Mining Joint Venture contract started in 2011 and was initially scheduled to be completed at the end of this year.
