27 Apr 2021

Two Boteti farmers, Mr Chetiso Matakela of Kedia and Ms Rabeka Matekane of Teku cattle-post near Mokobaxane have become the latest beneficiaries of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s small stock initiative.

 Having started off with two goats four decades back, Mr Matakela, a small scale farmer, has over the course of time seen his farming venture slowly change his family’s fortunes.

 At a brief ceremony during which he was gifted with a buck from President Masisi yesterday, Mr Matakela said he had not only supported his family from the proceeds of his small stock business but had also been able to build a house. 

He informed the vice president and also Boteti West MP, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, who handed over the buck on behalf of President Masisi, that despite humble beginnings in 1982, he had never given up.

Mr Matakela’s livelihood depends on the 150 goats and some cattle he owns.

He commended government for the initiative saying it would add great value to the sub-sector.

Appreciating the value that the Kalahari Red buck gift would add to his flock, Mr Matakela informed the vice president that he would castrate the bucks he already had so that eventually he would only have the offspring of the new breed in his kraal.

Presenting the gift earlier,  Mr Tsogwane said it was President Masisi’s dream to see the small stock sub-sector become not only more attractive to Batswana but also highly competitive in order to enhance access to external markets.

Mr Tsogwane commended Mr Matakela for his visionary stance that had seen him grow small stock rearing into a business even before President’s Masisi’s clarion call.

That, he explained, was the direction that Dr Masisi, through the initiative, wished small stock farmers to take.

Ms Matekane, who was gifted with a boer goat on the same day, started her small stock business started in 2014.

Vice President Tsogwane explained that while President Masisi was donating the bucks from his stock,  he also got support from farmers.

He informed his audience that President Masisi had secured a small stock market in Norway with the aim of encouraging farmers to export. Ends