SAFFLOWER: THE GREEN DIAMOND OF BOTSWANA
RUFORUM 2025 AGM – Gaborone, Botswana: What was meant to be an ordinary field visit for participants of the RUFORUM AGM 2025 side events on 29 November 2025, quickly evolved into a vivid demonstration of the promising green economic potential that Safflower holds for poverty eradication. As participants walked through the safflower fields and listened to the testimonials of famers on the outskirts of Gaborone, new ideas and opportunities began to take shape.
Professor, Vallantino Emongor, Principal Investigator, Crop and Soil Sciences Department, from BUAN gave participants an information brief on Safflower
For many smallholder farmers, safflower has become a priority crop and vital source of livelihood. After receiving training from RUFORUM in 2023-2024 supported by the Mastercard Foundation under the TAGDev program and the Community Action Research Project (CARP) in partnership with the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN), farming cooperatives across Botswana mobilized their savings to import their first seeds all the way from Australia. With no local certified varieties available and high seed costs limiting expansion, this decision was both a risk and a leap of hope.
What they witnessed next strengthened their resolve: the plant performed exactly as they had been trained. Encouraged by this success, many farmers shifted significant portions of their land from traditional crops to safflower.
Faced with the high cost of importing petal-picking machines from China, a young Botswana mechanical engineer stepped in. Using local materials and ingenuity, he designed a prototype safflower petal harvester, ushering in a new home-grown innovation within the value chain.
Safflower thrives where other crops fail. Its resilience in extreme temperatures – from -15°C to 45°C, makes it ideal for Botswana’s climate. Pest pressure is minimal; apart from occasional aphids, which are handled naturally by ladybugs, farmers require almost no pesticides. Many even grow it without fertilizers, relying only on animal manure or none at all.
With yields three times higher in winter, and one hectare capable of producing up to six (6) tons – worth roughly 1 million Pula, Safflower stands out as both a climate-smart and economically viable crop with a potential to produce over 8000 much needed jobs for the country’s youthful population.
Despite its potential, Botswana imports most of its cooking oil and has no certified safflower varieties of its own. This gap presents a major investment opportunity, from seed production to processing and product diversification.
At the official welcoming, Botswana’s Acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Hon. Dr. Edwin Dikoloti, urged farmers to understand and identify their markets and emphasized the importance of developing local varieties tailored for Botswana’s emerging safflower industry. Without this, value continues to slip away through the export of raw grain and with it, local jobs.
Research on safflower in Botswana has been ongoing since 2008, and recent support from RUFORUM and the Mastercard Foundation is accelerating progress. Globally, safflower is rising in demand, with China cultivating it heavily for pharmaceutical products such as insulin, while Canada utilizes it primarily as animal feed.
Closer to home, Botswana is now exploring beekeeping for improved pollination, which could create additional income streams and raise productivity.
To unlock the full potential of Botswana’s “green diamond,” the country must pull together to strengthen its local value chain from seed production, to processing, to high-value products such as edible oils, cosmetics, animal feed, consumables, and pharmaceuticals to name a few.
On the field visit, participants didn’t just see safflower, they saw possibility of a humble crop, a sector, and a nation ready to turn Safflower into a thriving green industry.
The team from Mastercard Foundation graced the occasion
