The Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) officially launched a Revamped Poultry Fianncial Suite in a move aimed at strengthening citizen participation across Botswana’s poultry value chain and stimulating growth within the agribusiness sector.
The launch was officiated by the Honourable Minister of Trade & Entrepreneurship, Tiroeaone Ntsima, who commended the initiative as a strategic intervention aligned to Government’s priorities of economic diversification, food security, employment creation and citizen economic empowerment. Speaking during the launch, Honourable Ntsima emphasized the importance of agriculture as a strategic engine of economic diversification, food sovereignty, industrial development, and inclusive growth.
The revamped Poultry Financial Suite is designed to support entrepreneurs and businesses across the poultry value chain through tailored financing and business support solutions covering:
- Project Preparation Fund (PPF)
- Hatchery Production
- Chicken Farming
- Abattoir and Processing
- Feed Mill Production
- Indigenous Chicken Farming
The revamped suite seeks to address key industry challenges such as limited processing infrastructure, high feed costs, insufficient hatchery capacity and the need for increased value addition within the poultry sub sector.
Speaking at the launch, CEDA Caretaker Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Khalala A. Mokefane, noted that the revamped offering demonstrated the Agency’s continued commitment to developing commercially viable citizen enterprises while supporting inclusive economic growth.
Mr. Mokefane further highlighted that the poultry industry remained one of the nation’s strategic agribusiness sub-sectors as a contributor to food security and job creation. He added that the new suite had been structured to provide support not only to individual entrepreneurs, but also to cooperatives, clusters and associations seeking to participate meaningfully within the poultry value chain. Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of record-keeping in order to assist the Agency manage credit risk, as well as compliance to biosecurity standards.
Through the revamped Poultry Financial Suite, CEDA aims to reposition poultry farming as a scalable and commercially sustainable business opportunity capable of unlocking downstream opportunities in feed production, processing, logistics, veterinary services and value addition.
