20 Jan 2019

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi says government should not set prices for beef industry, but instead they should be determined by the market.

Addressing farmers at Rudy Lemckey’s farm near Ghanzi on January 18 Dr Masisi expressed view that beef producers should dictate the price as informed by the market and barriers hindering them from dominating the market should be eliminated.

He lamented that beef producers were benefiting less in the sector, which was considered lucrative.

 “If we engage in reconciliation of price fetched at slaughter, and those prices that are fetched of the shelf overseas, and establish what happens, a big story emerges. When you unpack and ask yourself  further, where does BMC begin in managing or handling our beef and where does it abdicate or  abandoned and leave for other to determine the price, that too has  to be sorted out, because  I have examples  prices of on shelf at  Europe of various cuts of our beef,” the President said.

“If I can tell you the prices you might cry tears of blood because they are extremely good, notwithstanding that those who handle and market beef have to make profit but you too the creators of that value need to create more profit,” Mr President emphasised, adding that, “I am too embarrassed to tell you what I received when I sold at BMC”.

The President said government was not hostile to liberalisation of BMC.

“But we cannot liberalise a public entity without the approval of Parliament,” he told the famers.

Regarding government’s commitment to improving livestock farming, President Masisi stated that recommendations of beef cluster initiative to realise a better value chain in beef industry were being considered.

He challenged Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security   to reconfigure how it related with farmers.

Dr Masisi said the ministry should facilitate programmes and policies that would make the livestock industry efficient and productive.

He said production per hectare should improve and communal areas should be more productive.

Furthermore, he said government wanted both livestock sector and game ranching to be compatible and profitable at the same time.

“The sticky point we have is to resolve the reintroduction control of hunting or not and the feedback we are getting is that it is likely to be reintroduced but will be controlled,” he stated.

He said photographic tourism should always be considered.

“They have to coexist, predators in farms will be dealt with ethically, and some may be shot or sold to those who are in business of breeding”.

The President expressed concern that Botswana did not meet EU market quota ,saying that  though Batswana farmers had capacity to produce the best small stock, it could not  meet small stock  quota of 500 tonnes  EU quota per year .

“I was in Seychelles, I managed to convince the President not to dump BMC because it failed to deliver 28 tonnes they needed a month,” he added.

Besides beef, he said Seychelles wanted vegetable, thus said Batswana vegetable producers could use this opportunity. ENDS