03 Apr 2014

The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), Last year, slaughtered 19 210 cattle from the sub-zone A2d, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi, has said.

Responding to a question in Parliament from Ngami MP, Mr Taolo Habano, Mr Molebatsi said this year, 4 151 cattle had been slaughtered from the zone.

From the same sub-zone, he said a total of 5 703 live cattle were exported to Zimbabwe for direct slaughter and further 307 cattle were exported to Democratic Republic of Congo for breeding.

Furthermore, he said specific projects that had been undertaken over the last five years based on Israel’s technologies and farming concepts included Karoga Cluster in Parakarungu and the Mosi or Sedibeng Cluster in Barolong area which were all very successful.

With regard to technologies and farming concepts based on these experiences, Mr Molebatsi said “that can be recommended to the Shoshong constituency; it should be noted that technologies differ with zones, soil types and other variables.” Information on technologies suitable for Shoshong, the Aassistant

Minister said that could be obtained from the extension offices for the area, after assessment. “However, where suitable, concepts like clustering is feasible should be able to improve the utilisation,” he added.

Mr Habano had asked Mr Molebatsi to state the progress made by BMC and Veterinary Services Department to slaughter cattle in sub-zone A2d.

In addition, Ngami MP also wanted the Assistant Minister to state cattle statistics per loading zone and whether the number being provided by farmers was enough for BMC daily operations as well as problems encountered and future plans to address the sub-zone A2d problems. Ends