29 May 2022

The recent auction held at Lobu smallstock farm was one of government’s efforts to help farmers improve their herds and flocks to meet international market demands.

Acting President Mr Slumber Tsogwane said this when officiating at the auction. Mr Tsogwane thanked farmers who participated and urged them to breed and sell quality to other

farmers. He said as a way of empowering farmers, government would in the future allow them to auction their livestock at the farm. Government was eager to see creation of value chains in

smallstock farming, as it did with other forms of farming. The ultimate aim was to create jobs for Batswana. In that regard, the government was working to ensure that Tsabong Multispecies Abattoir created

more jobs out of its operation. “We also want to export processed products and not just meat; we are going to add value to what we produce at [the] abattoir from products and by-products,”

he said. He added government would continue to facilitate its citizens to venture into similar businesses with a view to creating jobs. A livestock auction sale similar to the Lobu one would be held in

Francistown where government recently relocated some of the livestock, to create a farm of similar model to cater for Batswana in the north east and neighbouring areas,

he said. Mr Tsogwane added the President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was in a country-wide donation of bulls, bucks and rams in an effort to help Batswana improve livestock quality. He encouraged farmers to

support the initiative. The Acting President also urged farmers to use Livestock identification and traceability system. (LITS), which he said was required for sale of produce to the international market.

Assistant Minister of Agriculture Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi encouraged farmers to draw inspiration from Lobu Farm, and train themselves on how to rear high quality smallstock. Emphasising the importance of

LITS, he said consumers needed to know the origins of the meat they ate and how it was kept, which was information provided by the system. In an interview, Lobu Farm manager Mr Jeffrey Balogi said the

auction sale went very well, having received much support from the national leadership and farmers. He said the farm’s first auction was held in 2018 and raised P 335 000. The second was in 2019 bringing

in P265 000. They were able to raise over P1.4 million in the latest sale. “One of the challenges was that some farmers received auction sale notifications late as they live where there is no network coverage, with the result messages reached them late,” he said. Consequently a few of the farmers bid, but they did not manage to pay. He said going forward they would employ various strategies

including technology to make it easier for farmers to be able to bid and pay from the comfort of their homes. ends