the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

iron corrugated roofing is not allowed in the Okavango Delta. However,
some of the lodges in the Delta have used iron-corrugated sheets for
accommodation facilities for their workers (Mbaiwa, 2002).
5.4.2.13 Post-Colonial Government Support of Agricultural Production
Lastly, one of the major issues that must be discussed with regard to wildlife and
natural resource management in Botswana is the fact that the post-colonial
government land-use economic policies in Botswana generally support agricultural
production at the expense of wildlife conservation. The establishment of the Ministry
of Agriculture and the Botswana Agricultural College to support agricultural
production immediately after independence in 1966 appears to validate this
hypothesis. These agricultural production developments were coupled with huge
government expenditure, particularly in the livestock sector (Mbaiwa, 1999).
The Botswana Government first demonstrated its support for the livestock industry
through the introduction of the Tribal Grazing Land Policy (TGLP) of 1975. The
primary objective of the TGLP was to commercialise livestock production and
conserve the rangeland. This was to be achieved through the allocation of blocks of
land within communal areas for leasehold ranches, to be used for commercial
ranching. However, when the TGLP proved a failure in 1991 the government
modified the policy and introduced the Agricultural Development Policy (ADP). The
ADP focuses primarily on fencing livestock farming land in communal areas to
improve the productivity of the livestock subsections and ensure the sustainable use
of range resources (Mbaiwa, 1999).
With regard to the arable sector, the primary government programme is the Arable
Land Development Programme (ALDEP) which was introduced in the late 1970s.
ALDEP's main objective is to improve farming methods and techniques through the
provision of financial assistance to farmers. In 1983, the Botswana Government
decided that it would pay 85 percent of the cost of any assistance, leaving the
farmers to pay only 15 percent. In 1985 the government further implemented the
Arable Rainfed Agricultural Programme (ARAP) which effectively became a drought
relief programme. It provides a set of subsidies to all farmers, such as the
distribution of seeds, payment for destumping and weeding one's own field, and the
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