GABORONE, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Botswana will start its first-ever citrus harvest from its Selibe-Phikwe Citrus Project, located about 402 km east of the capital Gaborone, on March 21, and it seeks to explore international markets with the produce.
This marks a significant leap in Botswana's drive to improve agricultural production, Johan Janse van Vuuren, the project's operations manager, told Xinhua in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
"We are getting ready to start exporting our first-ever harvest in a week's time," said the manager, adding that the first harvest will feature lemons and will be followed by oranges, grapefruit, and naartjies in the subsequent seasons.
According to him, 70 percent of the initial harvest will be exported to the international market, while the rest will be consumed domestically and in other African countries. Targeted international markets include China, the United States, Canada, Britain, the Middle East and Japan.
Janse van Vuuren said the citrus project sits on 889 hectares of land, and is expected to reach optimum production of 700,000 tonnes per year by the 2026/2027 season.
Botswanan Minister of Agriculture Fidelis Molao told Xinhua over the telephone that the project is expected to be one of the largest consolidated citrus developments in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Molao said the remaining 30 percent to be sold locally has the potential to create the much-needed spin-off businesses, thereby boosting local production of goods traditionally imported from other countries. ■
