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Agriculture in Botswana is still providing the largest amount of livelihood for more than 80% of the total population in the country. One of the major reasons behind it is that most of the Botswana population live in the rural parts of the country and hence depend upon the crop production and on livestock farming. Botswana's Agriculture is still considered as the touchstone of its society and culture. In spite of that Agriculture in Botswana is able to supply food to only 50% of the population. The total GDP accounted by Agriculture in Botswana is equal to 3% of the total GDP which is equal to $18.72 billion.
Botswana's Agricultural Industry is dominated by cattle rearing and subsistence farming. Agriculture in Botswana is plagued by various factors like poor soil condition and erratic rainfall. This is one of the chief reasons behind the inability of agriculture industry in Botswana to meet the adequate amount of food supply.
Since its independence in 1966, cattle rearing has dominated the sector of agriculture in Botswana and beef production is still monopolized by the Botswana Meat Commission. In the middle of the 1990s, the national herd counted to almost 2.5 million. However in the recent years, the figures have gone down by 200,000 due to the mass slaughter ordered by the government in 1995 in order to prevent the cattle lung disease.
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