10 Jul 2013

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Christiaan De Graaff says government is working hard to open alternative beef markets around the world.

He said government was aware of the challenges farmers were facing, adding that he and trade minister, Ms Dorcus Makgato-Malesu had been tasked by President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama to look for alternative beef market.

Mr De Graaff said this when responding to some comments from the farming community at Kareng. They had wanted the minister to up-date them about the market for cattle in areas which were hard hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

He said government remained committed to giving the beef industry the support it deserved and would look for a new market so that farmers could get all their cattle's worth. Mr De Graaff said recently they visited Namibia together with Ms Makgato-Malesu and negotiations to search for new marker.

He said they also visited Ghana and Nigeria where they set up technical teams between the government of Botswana and those countries. “It is promising that we will open markets in Ghana and Nigeria as we have agreed that beef from red zone can go through red zone of those countries,” he stated.

He said in two-weeks time, the Namibian minister of agriculture and that of trade together with their counterparts in Botswana would visit Norway to look for other alternative market. He said Botswana and Namibia were sharing a quota and they wanted to see if they could increase the quota.

The community was also informed that the ministry had initiated live export of cattle to other countries and so far over 8 000 cattle had been exported from Ngamiland since 2012. He said cattle were being taken from the protection zone only but as the disease situation improved, cattle would be taken from other areas as well. “At the moment we are exporting from Heina veld farms and as the situation improves we would export from other zones".

Mr  De Graaff also revealed that they would continue to improve Botswana Meat Commission for the benefit of farmers, adding that Maun BMC could now slaughter cattle from Ngamiland and the meat would be distributed to the rest of the country after being subjected to processes that eliminate risk of transmission of disease from the meat.

Farmers had expressed disappointment after learning that the government was still struggling to open market.  They said they were promised that Angola was buying their cattle but to their surprise government was silent on the issue. They had hoped that the minister would inform them that BMC was going to buy their cattle.

Farmers said they would resort to selling their cattle to butcher owners even though they were bought at low prices.  They said butcheries charged them P14 per kg for live cattle and requested the minster to negotiate better prizes on their behalf.

On other issues, the chairperson of the farmer’s committee, Mr Simon Matundu requested the minister to ensure NG5 area become livestock management area not wildlife as it was the case so that FMD could be managed and controlled easily.

He also requested the minister to permit farmers with boreholes in their field to water their livestock since the alloation of boreholes has been suspended by the land board. ENDS