28 May 2018

Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Patrick Ratlotsia has advised beef farmers to up their game in order to transform their sector.

Minister Ralotsia said this at the Southern District Beef Farmers Association Field Day themed: Increasing the profitability of communal farmers’ held in Samane on May 26.

He said the cattle population in the country had drastically declined and that farmers were failing to feed all the abattoirs to their maximum capacity.

He said of the three abattoirs, the Francistown one was the hardest hit as it could only slaughter 70 cattle per week and had zero through-put in some days, against its capacity of 380 cattle per day.

He said the deficit had resulted in Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) making a loss, and that it was a clear indication that the Francistown abattoir could not be self-sufficient.

He said the deficit had also resulted in late payments to farmers.

Mr Ralotsia said it was against this backdrop that government took a decision to transform the abattoirs in order to improve their operations.

“Government has taken a decision to transform our abattoirs, but for this to be done, we have to first amend the law,” he said.

He said the amended legislature would ensure that abattoirs were run both by government and farmers as well as the establishment of a livestock and meat board, among others.

He said the transformation called on farmers to first change their mindset in order to effectively transform the sector.

He urged farmers to optimally utilise the land they had been allocated for cattle farming so that they could produce more cattle to feed the market and compete with other countries.

He said the Southern District had only 60 207 cattle, which was a small number for such a vast area.

The minister called on communal farmers to improve the quality of their cattle so that they could satisfy the internal market and make profits.

He urged them to build ablution facilities in their farms and cattle posts to prevent diseases such as measles, which could degrade the quality of meat they produced.

He also underscored the need for good record keeping for easy monitoring of livestock.

Furthermore, Mr Ralotsia said government was intending to improve the small stock sector as they had realised that the country had the potential to perform better in small stock.

He said they recently resuscitated Lobu Farm by re-stocking different breeds of both goats and sheep so that the farm could continue as a training hub for small stock farmers.

The chairperson of the Southern District Beef Farmers Association, Mr Boyce Mohutsiwa said the theme for this year was intended to incorporate and encourage communal farmers to benefit from the EU market which was previously enjoyed by only those with ranches.

He also emphasised the need for farmers to use new technologies to improve their farming methods and ultimately produce good quality beef.

He urged BMC to improve on payments, saying timely payments go hand in hand with improvement of farming. ENDS