26 Jun 2016

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) Ms Botlogile Tshireletso says Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) has consulted farmers and the community country wide on hampered service delivery.

Ms Tshireletso was responding to a question on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, during the ongoing  meeting of Ntlo ya Dikgosi.

“These consultations were achieved through addresses to parliament and Kgotla meetings as well as presentations to farmers associations and the National Beef Producers Union. BMC also carried out operations restructuring exercise as part of addressing its financial liquidity to serve cattle farmers better,” she said.

She said, this has inadvertently resulted in retrenchments, redeployment and streamlining of the business to its core-mandate, adding that it has also resulted in the Tsabong Office and some other offices countrywide being closed.

“BMC stopped buying cattle from some areas in Kgalagadi as it did not continue to receive quotas from the said areas direct for slaughter and also through Direct Cattle Purchase (DCP) at Sunnyside,” she said.

She stated that replacing DCP and BMC availed an open opportunity for all willing to register as contracted suppliers. 

“The DCP alone, contributed greatly to the losses of BMC. In pulling-off from the field buying (DCP) BMC could no longer influence producer prices, which has according to the question seriously plummeted,” she said.

Ms Tshireletso said BMC has always publicly published producer prices and still does, of which could use as a guide for those buying for them, adding that farmers could transport and supply cattle directly to the BMC Sunnyside Farm at their own costs to get BMC prices.

She said there were no official contracts between the BMC with either communal farmers who supplied cattle to the BMC.

Kgosi David Toto had asked  the Minister of Agriculture to state whether BMC consulted farmers and the community on the closure of the Tsabong office and ceasure to buy cattle from some areas in Kgalagadi.ENDS