03 Jul 2013

Dairy farming is not performing well, despite government’s initiatives to promote development of the sector, says Dr Phillemon Motsu.

Dr Motsu, who is the director of animal health and production, was speaking at a dairy consultative meeting in Gaborone. He said successes of the government initiatives in transforming the sector had been minimal. Dr Motsu said failure of the initiatives was due to the absence of a holistic strategy that incorporated the sector’s value chain.

Dr Motsu said milk production declined from 8.3 million litres in 2009 to 2.9 million litres in 2012. He said the decline was due to a number of challenges besieging the industry such as costly dairy feeds, limited dairy animals and low prices. He said local fresh milk production accounted for only five per cent of the national demand, with 95 per cent imported from neighbouring countries together with all dairy products.

Dr Motsu, however, said the dairy sector had great potential for commercialisation. “It was for this reason that dairy farming was selected to be one of the sectors included in the national Economic Diversification Drive strategy,” said Dr Motsu. However, the chairperson of Botswana Dairy Association, Mr Willem Herbst said government had contributed to failure of the dairy industry in the country.

He said they had long pleaded with the government to support them regarding pricing of dairy products. He said fodder for dairy cattle was bought across borders at high prices.

The director of the Agriculture Hub, Ms Mmadima Nyathi called on farmers to participate in the development of a dairy strategy. The meeting was attended by representatives of dairy farmers in the country to get their input on the draft strategy in order to finalise the document.

The one-day meeting also provided a forum for interaction between the government and stakeholders. ENDS