12 Feb 2015

Botswana Meat Commission's Maun plant manager, Mr Mothobi Mothobi says their decision to reduce cattle transportation cost for Haenaveld farmers is not intended to drive truck owners out of business.

He said when responding to some complaints by truck owners that Maun abattoir’s decision to reduce transportation prices for cattle transported from the farms to Makalamabedi quarantine for the Zimbabwe live trade would affect their businesses.

In an interview, Mr Mothobi said the new arrangement would be a win-win situation for both BMC and big truck owners as they would engage them to collect cattle in bulk at a cost price of P250 instead of the P320 that farmers had been paying to truck owners.

He said before BMC got involved, farmers had an arrangement with small truck owners whereby they were charged P320 per head. However, he said the BMC decision did not change that arrangement. He also indicated that engaging big trucks at the said price would make business sense as compared to engaging small ones which collect few cattle.

Mr Mothobi explained that small truck owners would still be engaged if they agreed to the new set price. “We are running a business and we cannot put ourselves in unnecessary expenses, we believe that our new arrangement is cost effective,” he added.

He revealed that high transportation costs remained a major challenge for farmers in Ngamiland as a whole, noting that truck owners appeared to be fragmented as they had come across cases where some charge far less than what other charge for the same services.

On the issue of payments to farmers and service providers, Mr Mothobi explained that they have a policy that priority is given to transporters and then cattle owners as they are both the pillar of their business.

He pointed out that at times there is a delay as some farmers send other people to collect their cheques without evidence and advised farmers to refrain from that habit.

He advised them to bring affidavit if they send people. He also observed farmers could make an arrangement with the abattoir to deposit their cheques in their bank accounts as a security measure. ENDS