06 Jul 2017

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) plans to stop the usage of private feedlots as they bleed the coffers of the commission.

Assistant livestock procurement officer for BMC, Mr Otukile Moruakgomo revealed this during a workshop for BAITS farmers training at Poje crush near Khudumelapye.

Mr Moruakgomo said the European Union market, which is the most lucrative that Botswana exports beef to, requires that animals whose meat was exported to it should have a history of traceability in the form of movement, vaccination records and area of origin.

He said since 80 per cent of cattle in Botswana was in the hands of communal farmers who have no registered holdings, it forced BMC to keep cattle procured from communal farmers at private feedlots to build their traceability records before slaughter.

“BMC does not own any feedlots and we are forced to resort to privately registered holdings.

This is to help build their traceability records as well as nourish them since most cattle procured from communal farmers are under the desired weight,” he said.

Mr Moruakgomo said keeping cattle at the private feedlots, which he said could be anywhere between 90 to 100 days, was costly to BMC as it runs into millions monthly.

“Currently BMC has about 15 000 cattle on private feedlots, and the cost of maintenance of a single cow has been P34 per day, but just recently it went down to P20.

So this means BMC spends no less than P9 million a month on the maintenance of cattle on private feedlots, and if we consider that they have to be there for a minimum of 90 days it becomes exorbitant,” he said.

Mr Moruakgomo said if farmers could register their holdings, BMC would save as it would cease using private feedlots as cattle from communal farmers would be EU market ready.

He added that the benefits that were currently enjoyed by private feed lotters would be enjoyed by communal farmers. He said the high costs were one of the reasons why they took long to pay farmers.

For his part, the senior veterinary officer for Letlhakeng, Dr Tshepang Moeng said it was the goal of government to ensure that 80 per cent of cattle that were in the hands of communal farmers were EU compliant and encouragement farmers to register their holdings.

He noted that in the past holdings that were recognised were only feedlots and fenced farms, but that government intended to recognise other holdings such as water points, crushes and fenced ploughing fields.

He said this would ensure that most cattle in communal areas were compliant.

He said once registered and recognised, farmers would be required to meet some requirements set by the EU such as ear tagging calves at six months, using zonal brands, keeping records of vaccinations as well as clocking cattle movement.

He added that all the requirements were for purposes of traceability as required by the EU market.

He said the requirements would force farmers to be hands-on at their cattle posts rather than leaving all the work to herdsmen. ENDS