Two flagship government agricultural programmes, Temo Letlotlo and Thuo Letlotlo will be key catalysts to Botswana�s efforts to attain food self-sufficiency. Launching Temo Letlotlo, an arable agriculture programme during a kgotla meeting in Kanye on October 26, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said self-sufficiency in food had remained elusive to Batswana at both household and national levels as shown by the country�s continued reliance on other countries for food. �For the next financial year, we are going to increase our budget for agriculture; we will do this because we are food insecure at the household level. Many of our households cannot guarantee the availability of adequate food all year round. We are food insecure at the national level,� he said. The status quo, he said, had compelled government to review and replace ISPAAD with Temo Letlotlo, an initiative whose success would be hinged upon collaborative efforts of all key stakeholders, at the forefront of whom would be the beneficiaries themselves. He detailed how Batswana could tap into the immense wealth generation capabilities the programme carried as they could benefit in many ways such as through working their land, leasing out their ploughing fields as well as through development of various value chains including the processing and packaging of produce into different end-products. These, Dr Masisi said, would also culminate in Botswana making inroads against unemployment. The President said unlike ISPAAD, which was characterised by high expenditure and minimal returns due to poor financial controls, the new programme would entail intense monitoring and constant evaluation to guarantee its success. He said the other positives that would come out of Temo Letlotlo would be development of agricultural production areas through interventions such as construction of roads and availing Internet connectivity. The latter, he said, was in line with government�s digitilisation campaign and would drive the eventual commercialisation of the agricultural undertakings of beneficiaries through the infusion of technology in their farming activities. �Government will bring developments like roads, fibre network connectivity, and electricity to production areas. We want to modernise agriculture and make it attractive,� he stated. With an initial budget of over P500 million, President Masisi said, Temo Letlotlo would equip farmers with knowledge on the best farming practices, assist them acquire farm implements on cost sharing basis and support them in producing food for their households and the nation. Dr Masisi said in efforts to further support the livestock sector, Thuo Letlotlo would launch in April next year, and informed the meeting that both programmes would be subjected to intensive evaluation every five years to gauge their performance. Earlier, chairperson of the Umbrella Village Development Committee (VDC) Ms Gaontebale Lenong thanked the President for his spirited fight against COVID-19, saying it was the reason the nation had survived the outbreak. She said government also deserved commendation for the artificial insemination programme, which she said gave livestock farming the push it needed. Regarding those that Kanye residents desired from government, she cited construction of a new hospital with specialist medical personnel, upgrading of one local junior secondary school to a unified secondary school, and a P400-allowance for community home-based care volunteers. Ms Lenong further asked government to address water scarcity problem that had bedeviled Kanye for years. Kgosi Malope II had in welcoming President Masisi also called for a permanent solution to Kanye�s water woes as well as for the construction of a hospital and a sports stadium.