Botswana Prison Service Agriculture Officers have been urged to raise the bar high in order to improve production in prison farms.
Speaking during a consultative meeting with the Officers today at the Prison Staff College, Mahalapye, Commissioner of Prisons – Commissioner Dinah Marathe advised that agriculture is a discipline of practice driven by passion and love. She said farming is a peculiar undertaking altogether, where production can only be measured by the completion of tasks at hand.
โ๐ผ ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐จ ๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ค๐๐-๐๐ช๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ช๐ฉ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐๐ง๐ข ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐ช๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐ช๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ. ๐ผ๐ก๐ก ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ค๐ช๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ, ๐๐๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐ค๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐ฉ,โ she said.
Commissioner Marathe highlighted that through the Food Security Strategy, the Prison Service has made a commitment to the Government to ensure food security as well as reduce expenditure on feeding prisoners. She, therefore, challenged the Officers to introspect, re-apply themselves and focus on implementing the strategy.
The Commissioner reiterated that agriculture in prisons should be perceived as a business enterprise which is able to generate income for itself. She said the Government should be able to gain returns on the resources injected into the Service, hence the need for measuring and monitoring performance to ensure that there is a return on investment.
โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด,โ she advised.
She said proper record keeping, target setting, and reconciliation are critical in value chain development, as emphasised by the National Priority Areas and the Commissionerโs Roadmap.
She said the Service’s efforts to shift to modern farming are evidenced by the recent introduction of protected farming and drip irrigation, as well as the acquisition of pedigree and top genetics of breeding stock across various prison farms.
She indicated that the expectation is that operations should improve for the Service to attain quality prisoner training and food production with the aim of starting agro-processing in order to preserve excess produce.
Commissioner Marathe further implored the officers to embrace constant communication and effective internal collaborations to create synergies for better service delivery. She encouraged them to always work as a team, share ideas and tap from each otherโs skills and talents.
โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด,โ she said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner cautioned the officers against unprofessional relationships with the prisoners, resulting in infiltration of contraband into the prisons. She said some of the contraband find its way into the facilities from the farms and gardens. She, therefore, implored them to be always vigilant and follow the standard operations procedures for guidance.