Botswana has imposed a ban on the importation of vegetables and bottled natural and mineral water, local media confirmed.
The Southern Times
newspaper quoted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Investment,
Trade and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame, as explaining that the government
had imposed restrictions on the entry of the goods under the Control of
Goods, Prices and Other Charges Act.
“The
implementation of the regulations would promote the competitiveness and
sustainability of the domestic water-bottling sector,” the government
official was further quoted.
“The move is also intended
to stimulate investment in the sector, which could lead to job creation
and poverty reduction," she added.
Local farmers
Last
month, the Botswana government banned the importation of beetroot,
green pepper, butternut, watermelon, green maize, tomatoes, carrots and
sweet potatoes.
A Ministry of Agricultural Development
and Food Security officer, Mr Boikhutsho Rabasha, was quoted as saying
local farmers were producing enough for the domestic market.
Reports
show that South Africa’s horticultural farmers continued to benefit
immensely from Botswana’s inability to produce enough vegetables and
fruits to satisfy the local demand, the Southern Times newspaper further reported.
Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade in the product has transformed the nation.
Success stories
Its
significant diamond wealth, good governance, prudent economic
management and a relatively small population of more than two million,
have made it an upper middle-income country according to the World Bank.
Botswana is located at the centre of southern Africa, between South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It was one of the world’s poorest countries at independence in 1966, but rapidly became one of the development success stories.
Botswana has a stable political environment with a multi-party democratic tradition.
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