09 Jul 2015

Botswana Meat Commission's (BMC) Maun plant will shut down temporarily at the end of this month to pave way for upgrading and refurbishment of the abattoir.

The plant manager, Mr Mothobi Mothobi, said in an interview that the abattoir would be closed for a month.

He said the last arrival of cattle would be July 14, and slaughtering would be July 15 while deboning would be done July 17.

He said maintenance and upgrading work would ensure that they get a better value from their offers. It would also increase efficiency, allow slaughtering of 120 cattle per day and improve deboning, he added.

Mr Mothobi said they would also provide slaughtering services for butcheries adding that “we would be able to slaughter 20-30 cattle for butcheries a day.” The works would also involve increasing freezing capacity of the abattoir to boost cattle sales.

He also stated that starting July 28, Francistown abattoir would receive the first batch of Ngamiland cattle for slaughter.

Furthermore, he said about 400 cattle would be slaughtered per day, adding that cattle from Shorobe, Chanoga and Makalamabedi are eligible for slaughter and farmers are required to quarantine them for 21 days.

Maun plant , he added, would buy live cattle from farmers on behalf of the Francistown abattoir to save transport costs.

Mr Mothobi also highlighted that arrangement of selling cattle to Francistown does not change the selling price.

“Selling cattle to Francistown does not mean that farmers would get a unique price because the product accesses the same market,” he added.

He said currently the affected farmers together with the Maun abattoir are still to agree on the central buying point. He said a decision would soon be taken on the proposed areas of Makalamabedi and Somelo.

Mr Mothobi noted that they intend transporting cattle immediately to avoid feeding costs. He also appealed to farmers to meet the required target for slaughtering, adding that they expect cattle to be tagged for easy traceability.

Regarding the Zimbabwe market, Mr Mothobi explained that the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease affected the arrangement but noted that a movement protocol had been allowed from some zones and hoped that things would be normal.

He said they have communicated with the Zimbabwean officials and they promised to send a team of auditors to see if any precautionary measures had been put in place. Ends