04 Jul 2021

 Ngamiland farmers have been urged to use quarantine services as it is mandatory for their cattle to be slaughtered at Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) Maun branch. BMC Maun Plant Manager, Mr Oabona Ramotshwara said this during a meeting with farmers and North West coumcillors recently in Sehitwa. 

Mr Ramotshwara observed that quarantine was re-introduced as part of the Commodity Based Trade (CBT) of beef in the Ngamiland District as agreed to in 2019 after consultations with farmers.He explained that quarantine allowed some farmers to continue selling their cattle even when there was Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in some parts of the district.

 Additionally, Mr Ramotshwara said quarantine allowed Ngamiland beef to be sold in other parts of the country and outside the country. Mr Ramotshwara noted Maun BMC had experienced a decline in the number of cattle taken for slaughter since the re-introduction of quarantine. 

He observed that Maun BMC had a capacity of 25 000 cattle for slaughter per year but currently the numbers had dropped to below half the capacity.

 He said in 2015 Maun BMC slaughtered 18 050 cattle; 20 040 in 2016;18 767 cattle; 9 467 cattle in 2018; 10 224 in 2019 while in 2020 it only slaughtered 5 355 cattle. Mr Ratshwara therefore appealed to farmers to quarantine their cattle so that they could sell to BMC. 

When commenting, Haina Veldt Farmers Association Mr Keleitsang Ledimo urged BMC to fully implement the Commodity Based Trade for beef in Ngamiland to see desired results. Mr Ledimo also encouraged the farmers associations to revive their structures saying some were not active. 

Another farmer, Mr Hureva Javanga said some farmers resorted to private abattoirs over BMC because “they fear the BMC will fail to pay them.”ends