19 Nov 2019

The President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said the high occurrence of measles has had adverse effects on the beef exports.

Delivering his State-of -the- Nation-Address (SONA) on November 18, President Masisi however observed a positive development as the prevalence of the disease had dropped to 6.5 per cent from 8 per cent reported during the launch of the measles strategy in August 2018.

The President also noted that outbreak of livestock diseases  particularly Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) continued to haunt the livestock industry saying the outbreaks of FMD limited movement of livestock resulting in temporary closure of access to export markets for the affected areas.

Dr Masisi also observed that government had made some improvements in the control of FMD due to the successful implementation of the vaccination strategy.

As a result, Dr Masisi said the World Organisation for Animal Health has approved Botswana’s application for the reinstatement of the FMD free status for zone 7.

President Masisi said the listing was expected to expand FMD green zone, thus increasing the number of cattle eligible for lucrative markets.

He further noted that government continued to rehabilitate cordon fences with priority given to frontier  fences bordering FMD zones and emphasised the need to maintain the cordon fences as barriers to FMD control.

Dr Masisi also said government had successfully controlled the outbreak of bont tick in the Tubu area.

He said about 24 000 cattle, 3 900 small stock and 385 donkeys and horses were dipped and treated.

The intervention had significantly reduced mortality and infestation levels, said Dr Masisi. 

However, President Masisi noted with concern, constant damage of cordon fences by elephants especially in the North West and Central districts.

He said the damage put severe strain on resources and was unsustainable in the long term.

President Masisi also observed that the financial year 2018/19 was declared a drought year and therefore government drought subsidies on livestock feeds, vaccines and de-worming drugs.

He said the subsidies were expected to act as relief measure for livestock farmers.

Since the inception of the subsidy, President Masisi said 14 599 livestock farmers benefited from the subsidy of which 13 220 were males while 1 379 were females and 1 379 youth.

Dr Masisi said 1 140 livestock farmers also benefited from the P3 slaughter price incentive as a total of 39 748 cattle received by the BMC received the price incentive amounting to P29.9 million 

The President further said government granted farmers a temporary window to export live cattle for slaughter from June 2019 to March 2020.

To date 1 662 cattle have been exported for slaughter, he said. 

As a long term intervention, Dr Masisi said government was intending to establish fodder banks and reserves to cater for dry periods.

He also noted the upgrading of the Botswana Animal Information and Traceability System (BAITS) to enhance its functionality and facilitate offline access by farmers and extension officers. 

“At least 60 BAITS cafes have been established around the country to improve animal information capturing and permit issuance especially in rural areas,”  he said. Ends