29 Jul 2018

Some residents of Sehithwa have welcomed the idea of Nhabe Agricultural Management Association (NAMA) to construct a community abattoir in their village.

The residents aired their views after a presentation by the NAMA chairperson, Mr John Benn who updated them on project progress.

They appreciated that the project would reduce the burden on Maun Botswana Meat Commission which remained the only major abattoir in the area.

They said most farmers had not been able to sell their cattle over several years, thus resulting in high population of cattle.

The residents said the community abattoir would bring much needed income to many households and help reduce poverty.

Earlier on, Mr Benn informed residents that there was a lot of progress as far as the project was concerned; adding that they had secured a plot in Sehithwa and the feasibility study had been completed successfully with the assistance of UNDP.

The study aimed to determine if the P80 million project, would be feasible and viable. He also thanked UNDP for their support to ensure the success of the project.

The chairperson also revealed that they believed the project would reduce monopoly in the district and also meet the interest of the farmers as many would graduate from poverty through selling their cattle.

Mr Benn said the next stage would be to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and also focus on ensuring availability of water at the site

However, Mr Benn pleaded with the community to come on board and pledge assistance in kind to ensure their dream was achieved.

He said some farmers at Semboyo had already pledged some cattle and wished others could emulate that.

“The idea was to emulate the system which built the University of Botswana, where people pledged cows and we believe it could also work wonders for us,” he added.

Farmers were also urged to join the association. NAMA is a farmers’ association for both livestock and arable agriculture producers operating in communal areas of Ngamiland. ENDS