18 Nov 2013

Boteti North MP, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has tabled a motion requesting government to extend a short term livestock feeds loan as a matter of urgency and allow the use of idle quarantines by local communities to avoid possible extinction of livestock due to harsh and prolonged drought period.

When tabling the motion in Parliament on November 15, MP Tsogwane said harsh and persistent drought had taken its toll and continued to impoverish Batswana as livestock mortality was high.

He said even though there was no official drought related livestock mortality report from the Ministry of Agriculture, there was clear evidence from eye witness account that a lot of cattle died from drought, some were lean and would soon perish. Without any intervention measure, he said there was potential livestock extinction in many parts of the country.

“Farmers in Boteti could not avoid the ravage of their cattle by drought and farmers in the 4A area lost their European Union market due to the poor state of the Makgadikgadi Park’s game fence and some could not sell most of their animal due to the problem of ineffective bolus management system,” explained MP Tsogwane.

He said even though government assisted farmers with subsidised cattle feed, many livestock advisory centers failed to keep adequate stocks, hence the government’s restocking scheme could not buy all animals with a lot of them being rejected for their poor condition.

Mr Tsogwane explained that the current drought situation was disabling farmers to service their CEDA and NDB agricultural loans through the sale of livestock.

The motion also, he said, sought seeks to avoid possible extinction of livestock and aggravated poverty conditions, therefore government must move swiftly to help farmers to protect their livestock from the hardship of drought and establish short term livestock feeds loan.

The motion further sought government to allow farmers in areas where there is idle land to graze their livestock particularly in idle quarantines.
When debating on the motion, the Vice President Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe indicated that the aftermath of drought is felt by farmers across the country and remains a nightmare to many farmers.

The Vice President stated that he is in full support of the motion because government will assist farmers in drought hard-hit areas with a 35 per cent discount on stock feeds sales. He said government is anticipating spending over P200 million on drought relief exercises this year.

Kweneng South MP, Mr Daniel Kwelagobe also expressed full support of the motion but called for the loans to be interest free. He said it will not help for the loan to attract interest since farmers will struggle to pay the interests.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, Mr Keletso Rakhudu, also supported the motion but called for the amendment of the motion to read as “To request government to extend a comprehensive short term subsidy as a matter of agency to avoid possible decimation of livestock due to harsh and prolonged drought.”

The amendment was however rejected by MP Tsogwane who said it left out on the importance of using idle quarantines and other idle land to remedy the situation. The debate of the motion continues. ENDS