16 Aug 2017

Moshupa Sub-district chairperson, Mr Sonny Phiri says 404 cattle in the sub-district had been captured into the Botswana Animal Information and Traceability System (BAITS) in the first quarter of this year.

Councillor Phiri urged farmers to register their kraals, boreholes and crushes in order to qualify for the European Union market.
Addressing the full council recently, he said training on BAITS was done in May in Jwaneng and Kanye respectively,  noting that some Moshupa farmers took part in the training.

He said another training exercise would be conducted in the sub-district before the end of this month.

On private vaccinations, the sub-district chairperson advised farmers to group their cattle in order to get vaccines free of charge.
He also noted that farmers were expected to vaccinate their cattle and give returns to the veterinary office without fail.

“Furthermore, it is my earnest hope that farmers do supplement their cattle to curb the effects of winter in accordance with good management practices,” he said.

On ISPAAD, councillor Phiri said 4 714 farmers were issued with agricultural inputs, and that they ploughed over 17 000 hectares.
He added that most farmers were now engaged in harvesting and threshing.

He said 15.19 tonnes of cereal had been harvested from 143.97 hectares and 11.48 tonnes of legumes from 80.71 hectares.
On other issues, councillor Phiri expressed concern that some farmers were not reporting their produce.

He urged them to report their produce to frontline extension workers.

On LIMID, the sub-council chairperson reported that 243 backlog packages had been issued to 146 beneficiaries between July 2016 and January 2017, and that only 19 packages for 13 beneficiaries were remaining.

Under the Poverty Eradication Programme for the sub-district, he said the backlog stood at 190 for both small stock and Tswana chickens.
He noted that 135 projects had been completed since June 2016 and that 55 were incomplete. Ends