Moringa farming to be a

Today, diamonds have no value in the market, but trees can take over and this is according to Farmer’s Pride International (FPI) director, Mr Hunter Zadzagomo. In an interview, Mr Zadzagomo captures the spirit of a quiet and green revolution taking root in the soils of Botswana, saying while global markets fret over volatile, fluctuating diamond prices, a botanical powerhouse, Moringa oleifera, is emerging as the country’s ultimate economic lifeline. He says Botswana has a golden opportunity to position itself as Africa’s premier moringa production, processing and export hub and also believes that agriculture is the only sector in Africa capable of completely sustaining itself on its own ecosystem.

He argues that finite minerals can no longer guarantee national stability. “Moringa has the potential to grow family economies. It is not just a crop but a livelihood enterprise capable of creating income, improving household nutrition, generating employment, supporting small businesses and contributing to national economic development through value addition and exports.

When organised under Agriculture-Based Clusters, Moringa becomes a catalyst for rural industrialisation and community wealth creation,” he explains. Rather than repeating the historic mistake of exporting cheap, raw materials, he says FPI’s strategy centres on local value addition, adding that processing the harvest into premium products yields significantly higher returns for local farmers and keeps wealth within the country. Currently, he says FPI is operating from Uphopia Farms in Gakuto.

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“Where we are implementing our pilot production and demonstrating the Agriculture-Based Cluster model,” he says, adding that as demand scales, the plan is to expand this cluster model nationwide. To understand the sheer magnitude of this potential, one only has to look at how visionary nations have historically turned native flora into national fortune. China spun bamboo into a multi-billion-dollar empire spanning construction, textiles, food and paper.

Zimbabwe rode tobacco, Africa’s ‘golden leaf’, to huge export earnings. Kenya and Ethiopia branded tea as green gold and brewed coffee into national economic growth, while Ghana claimed the crown as the world’s cocoa king.

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