Sanitas (Botswana) (Pty) Ltd was registered in May 1970 as a Plant Clinic and Nursery with the goal of exporting disease-free mother plants and cuttings to cut flower growers in Southern Africa and Europe. The name Sanitas comes from Latin and means 'healthy' which covers the basic idea of disease free plant production.
The founder, Gosta ('Gus") Nilsson, completed an FAO contract as a plant pathologist with the Ministry of Agriculture in Botswana in 1970. At the time he had over 25 years experience in horticulture with a Ph.D, in Plant Pathology from Cornell University, USA. In addition he held the position of visiting Professor at Colorado State University. Today, more than 30 years since its founding, he and his family are still running Sanitas as a private business.
In the 70's we produced disease-free carnation and chrysanthemum cuttings for export. Sanitas mother plants were started from meristem tissue culture. We also exported cut flowers such as roses.
As the local market developed and grew, emphasis was placed on vegetables, fruit and ornamental plants. The Green Diamonds of Botswana ®, our registered trade mark, is now well established in Botswana.
During the 80's Sanitas was involved in both small and large landscaping projects in Gaborone and other sites in Botswana. In the 90's the company gradually developed into a Plant Nursery and Garden Centre. To provide our valued customers with additional service, we added the Sanitas Tea Garden in 1996.
In addition to the running of this business, we have been involved in establishing a horticultural scheme in Saudi Arabia between 1979 -1981. Local research on dryland farming was carried out, including a privately run research project in Hukuntsi for 3 years, between 1979-82. We developed new horticultural growing methods, that are applied at Sanitas and used elsewhere in Botswana. All investments, including research, have been financed 100% by Sanitas.
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