24 Jul 2018

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse has encouraged farmers in his constituency to ear-tag their cattle as government will no longer vaccinate those without ear-tags.

Speaking at a consultative meeting on July 23, Mr Autlwetse said that government has noted reluctance by some farmers to ear-tag their cattle, therefore has resorted to putting stringent measures in place to motivate them to comply.

“Those who do not adhere to ear-tagging their cattle will not be able to access some of the assistance provided by the government such as vaccination of cattle,” he said.

That came after the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security’s decision to replace bolus with the ear-tag system.

Mr Autlwetse noted that farmers are expected to do the tagging themselves then register with the Botswana Animal Identification System (BAITS), which is part of the compliance with the European Union Market regulations, requiring that beef should be traceable back to the individual origin and that a computerised central system must be used.

“We need to ear-tag our cattle and also provide accurate information about where we are rearing our cattle,” he said.

“If this can be followed, we will be able to provide additional services to the community including amongst others, safe and secure animal identification, improved cattle security and improved recovery of stolen and stray cattle,” Mr Autlwetse said.

The Serowe North legislator, said ear-tagging will give a marketing edge for Botswana beef, thereby creating a lucrative market for Botswana Meat Commission (BMC).

“As you may be aware for quite some time, BMC has not been making profits due to the fact that they could not reach their daily target of cattle for slaughter. Negotiations are still ongoing as government intends to privatise BMC,” he said.

He said because of the financial situation at the commission, it is unable to pay farmers within target, hence the need to consider restructuring the business. ENDS