An Examination of the Effects of Botswana's Vegetable Importation Ban on Economic Development

Abstract

Over the last 3 years, the Botswana Government has implemented measures that will enable its economy to recover from the ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been reported as per the Botswana Weekend post that “Recent figures from Statistics Botswana show that on an annual basis local retailers import vegetables worth more than P100 million. Figures further indicate that for the month of September 2021, retailers spent around P24 million in importing vegetables from farmers outside Botswana. The Ministry of Agriculture announced that in its bid to ensure that food retailers spent chunk of money in buying from local farmers, government decided to ban imports of tomatoes, carrots, beetroots, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, chilli peppers, butternut, water melons, sweet peppers, green mealies and fresh herbs with effect from the 1st of January 2022; and added that restrictions on the imports will be reviewed every two years. The purpose of this study lies on assessing the degree to which the import ban has affected prices of commodities in Botswana, the relationship between the import ban and economic growth in Botswana and the how the import ban has affected Botswana’s international relations basing on research findings and literature review. A review of literature related was also employed in a bid to establish what other renowned authors’ view was on the subject of import bans. The main source of related literature was internet journals. The study used the Hypothetic-deductive research design where there was use of survey questionnaires because of its cost effectiveness and efficiency. Sources of data, research instruments, populations and samples were given in the research. Primary data was presented using diagrams, pie charts and tables, to illustrate research findings and responses gathered. Research findings showed that, pricing, balance of trade and retaliation have an impact on import bans. As a result, the research recommended that the organisation should establish the best practice highlighted in the research.