28 Nov 2022

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC)Maun is struggling to reach its slaughtering target, despite introducing some interventions to motivate farmers.

The plant manager, Mr Ishmael Morula expressed disappointment that they had failed to meet this year’s slaughtering target.

He said in an interview that the failure was due to a number of reasons such as inadequate supply of animals.

Mr Morula said the abattoir had planned to slaughter 15000 cattle, but only managed to slaughter 9000, which translated to 60 per cent. He said the majority of farmers were reluctant to sell cattle to the BMC, complaining about the amount of time animals spent at the quarantine, as well as the delay in payment and instead resorting to selling to millers for quick cash.

“We have experienced a deficit despite our efforts to increase the selling price from P28 to P31 per kg and taking the responsibility to take care of expenses of transporting animals from the quarantine for slaughter,” he added.

Mr Morula said the government also opened Nokaneng and Kgomokgwana quarantines with the hope to increase production as well as to improve the economic efficiency and contribution to the cattle industry. Mr Morula further said that the abattoir had also been getting animals from green zone, but the mobilisation rate was very low because of competition.

He said the abattoir was however, working on ways to turn things around and improve production.

This, he said has compelled them to  consider buying live cattle from farmers and quarantining them to achieve their slaughtering target and improve production.  

Mr Morula that they had been enjoying domestic market mainly in Gaborone and other surrounding areas.

The bulk of the beef was sold in Botswana with a bit of export to the Democratic of Republic of Congo (DCR), also noting that supply of meat was high in winter between May and August.

Mr Morula noted that the abattoir slaughtered 120 cattle a day and their target for next year was to slaughter 18000 animals.

He appealed to farmers to bring more cattle for slaughter and benefit more from their animals. ENDS