19 Nov 2019

Government has adopted a Beef Cluster Strategy that has identified areas of improvement including ways of upgrading production, research and technology transfer and promotion and marketing of beef.

During the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) on November 18, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said the strategy was in response to a recorded decline of the national cattle population from 3.1 million in the last seven years to an estimated 2 million in 2018.

“This is a worrisome trend which government is responding to in a number of ways to increase the national herd,” he said.

He said the strategy was done in partnership with the government of New Zealand through the Beef Productivity Training Programme at Ramatlabama ranches. The programme, he said offered training to farmers and herdsmen on the bets farm practices and animal production initiatives ad well as equipping farmers with industry-led livestock management and increase of calving rate on an annual basis.

The President shared that the strategy to liberalise the Botswana Beef Export market had been completed and would guide the future of the beef industry in Botswana.

“The implementation of the strategy will include the establishment of a meet regulator, a liberalised, competitive and open market for beef products and live cattle, harmonised legislation and regulations across the beef sector in compliance with health and sanitation standards,” he said.

 He said the strategy also called for the restructuring of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), separation of the linked abattoirs of Lobatse, Maun and Francistown and the privatisation of the organisation.

He explained that it had been necessary to review the sales and marketing of the BMC beef and removal of its export monopoly as well as its distribution to various regional and international markets to ensure value for money and the sustainability of the company.

He said such would yield a competitive price structure and improved turnaround time for payment of farmers, adding that the BMC transition Bill had been passed in Parliament as part of the initiatives to effect some of these challenges.

President Masisi noted that during the 2018/19 financial year, a total of 271 210 cattle were slaughtered both at BMC and private slaughter facilities, against the annual target of 310 900 animals.

On Agricultural development and food security, Dr Masisi said food import bill in 2018 was estimated at P7.745 billion against P6. 863 billion in 2017, the bulk of the food items imported being dairy,dairy products, followed by fruits and vegetables.

He said the dairy sector had a well-rounded value chain compared to other agricultural commodities having clear linkages regarding production, processing, distribution and marketing.

Dr Masisi said government was leveraging on already established milk processing plants such as Clover Botswana and Parmalat to promote the establishment of commercial dairy farms, to produce adequate raw milk and feed the value chain.

He said the annual national demand for milk was 65 million litres during the 2018/19 financial year. Dr Masisi said 9. 6 miilion litres of milk was produced locally, compared to 8. 6 million litres produced in 2017/18.

He attributed the increase in liquid milk to the implementation of the diary strategy.

He said the upcoming Milk Afric Dairy farm in Lobatse was expected to milk 500 cows which would significantly increase milk production in the next financial year.

Dr Masisi said the farm was expected to gradually grow the number of milking cows to 2 000 by adding 500 cows every year. 

He said Sunnyside Dairy Farm, a major supplier of liquid milk continued to expand and to date, it produced 500 000 litres of milk per month.

Dr Masisi said the government was also establishing marketing infrastructure to facilitate market access, noting that  the Pitsane Milk collection plant had been renovated.

The President said efforts were ongoing to assist farmers to manage Serowe Milk Pasteurising plant which was not operating at full capacity, producing only 8000 litres of milk a day.

On youth and agriculture, he said young people currently contributed to 12 per cent, 6.4 per cent and 2.25 per cent to rain-fed arable production, beekeeping and horticulture production respectively.

The President said youth participation in commercial livestock production was currently at less than 4 per cent.

He said the government was currently marketing and positioning agriculture as an attractive and financially rewarding career of choice for the youth.  The campaign is expected to attract talented and commercially minded young farmers into the agricultural industry. Ends