25 Jan 2018

Some farmers from the Okavango region have threatened to stop selling cattle to Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) in Maun if it does not improve the buying price.

A delegation of farmers from the region revealed when presenting their concerns pertaining to farming to the Ngamiland District leadership during a consultative meeting.

This followed recent meetings conducted by Okavango Region Farmers Committee, where farmers discussed issues of concerns and came up with resolutions. One of the burning issues was BMC purchasing price of P8 per kg.

The committee encouraged farmers to hold on to their cattle while they negotiate the price with relevant authorities.

Chairperson of the Okavango Region Farmers Committee, Mr Vister Moruti explained that farmers were not happy with the decision by Maun abattoir to buy their light weight cattle at P8 per kg.

He said it was worrisome as it came to their light that BMC practices discriminatory policy when it comes to buying of cattle from farmers depending on their regions. Mr Moruti said it seemed like the abattoir does not take into consideration the fact that all farmers put immeasurable efforts in their endeavour to breed cattle.

He said during their meetings, farmers complained about disparity in buying prices, citing that at Lobatse BMC, cattle were bought at a price of P33 per kg, Francistown abattoir buys at P23 while Maun was P19 per kg and P8 for light weight cattle respectively.

“This is unacceptable and we should not be taken for granted as the price set is like taking our cattle for free. We should  benefit well from our resource,” he added.

Farmers wanted to know what informs BMC to apply discriminating prices for cattle that are basically of the same weight and breed.

However, Mr Moruti observed that farmers had resolved that an urgent meeting with the minister of agricultural development and food security to address farmers on the issue of Botswana Meat Commission purchasing prices.

He said farmers proposed that at least BMC could purchase their cattle at P14 per kg as opposed to P8 per kg, but it seemed BMC did not want to listen.

Other resolutions, he mentioned were as follows; farmers committees be given the powers to bargain with BMC on behalf of their members. Farmers also called for uniformity of prices of cattle across the country.
another issue presented to the leadership was stock theft.

Mr Moruti explained that stock theft was a major challenge due to lack of viable market and light sentences given to offenders.

He said the situation needed urgent attention, noting that owners of butcheries were exacerbating such crime. In addition, he noted that the poor condition of the cordon fence that runs parallel with Namibia/Botswana line was also not helping as cattle moved across the border with ease.

District leadership requested time to look into the issues and convene a meeting for feedback.

The district commissioner, Mr Keolopile Leipego and council secretary, Mr Charles Amos concurred that they were not technically equipped to respond to the farmers concerns and requested time to digest and process the issues.

They also agreed with farmers that consultation with all key stakeholders was vital. Ends