By Nevison Mpofu
GABORONE, Botswana — Once overlooked by many farmers, safflower is emerging as a potentially transformative crop in Botswana, offering small-scale producers a climate-resilient pathway to improved food security, income generation and agro-industrial development.
In a country characterised by arid and semi-arid conditions, the oilseed crop is attracting growing interest because of its resilience to harsh weather, nutritional value and wide range of industrial applications. As climate change intensifies droughts and makes rainfall increasingly unpredictable across Southern Africa, safflower is being promoted as one of the crops that could help farmers adapt while strengthening local food production.
“Safflower is increasingly becoming a leading food-security and industrial crop in an arid and semi-arid country like Botswana, creating greater opportunities to withstand the effects of climate shocks and changing weather patterns across the region.”
For smallholder farmers already grappling with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and limited access to agricultural inputs, the crop offers important advantages. Safflower can tolerate drought, heat, cold and saline conditions and can perform in relatively low-input environments, making it particularly suited to Botswana’s challenging agricultural landscape.
The crop is grown primarily for its high-quality edible oil, but its value extends well beyond cooking oil. Safflower can also be processed into livestock feed, herbal teas, natural dyes, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, creating opportunities for farmers to move beyond primary production into processing and value addition.
This potential has attracted the attention of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) through the Transforming African Agricultural Universities to Meaningfully Contribute to Africa’s Growth and Development (TAGDev) programme, working in partnership with the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN).
Through the Community Action Research Project (CARP), implemented from 2019 to 2024, researchers and farming communities worked to increase safflower production, promote sustainable farming practices, develop marketable products and strengthen the capacity of local farmers. The initiative placed particular emphasis on empowering women, including those affected by climate shocks and gender-based violence.
The project was led by Professor Vallantino Emongor, principal investigator in BUAN’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, and sought to bridge the gap between university research and practical agricultural solutions for communities.
One of the programme’s most significant achievements was the training of 160 women, who were subsequently organised into cooperatives, including the Saff Energy Initiative Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society. The women are involved in producing value-added safflower products such as cooking oil, herbal teas, natural dyes, cosmetics and livestock feed.
The initiative demonstrates how agricultural research can translate into practical economic opportunities at community level. By processing safflower locally instead of selling only the raw crop, farmers can potentially capture a greater share of its value while developing new income streams and supporting rural employment.
Research has also been central to the programme. Teams evaluated different safflower genotypes for seed yield, oil quality and petal production, while fertiliser trials sought to identify efficient nutrient applications for different soil conditions. The work has contributed to a growing body of knowledge on how safflower can be successfully cultivated under Botswana’s environmental conditions.
Beyond production, the project has strengthened collaboration between universities, government institutions, development agencies, private-sector players and farming communities. Students have also benefited from practical training, gaining technical skills and experience in crop production, research, processing and agricultural value chains.
The nutritional profile of safflower adds another dimension to its potential. Safflower oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, including monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, while the crop’s multiple uses offer opportunities for Botswana to develop new domestic agricultural value chains.
Expanded local production could also help reduce dependence on some imported agricultural products while stimulating agro-processing, creating jobs and generating additional income for farming communities. Greater collaboration among farmer organisations, processors, manufacturers, researchers and markets will be critical if safflower is to progress from a promising crop into a commercially sustainable industry.
For Botswana, the significance of safflower extends beyond a single agricultural commodity. Its development illustrates how climate-smart agriculture, scientific research, women’s economic empowerment and value addition can be brought together to address some of the country’s most pressing agricultural challenges.
As climate shocks continue to test food systems across Southern Africa, crops capable of surviving difficult conditions while supporting multiple industries will become increasingly important. Botswana’s experience with safflower provides an example of how agricultural innovation can help smallholder farmers build resilience while creating new opportunities for food security, entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth.
If production continues to expand and stronger markets are developed for safflower-based products, the once-overlooked crop could become an increasingly important part of Botswana’s response to climate change — turning difficult growing conditions into opportunities for farmers, communities and the wider economy.
