30 Apr 2023

Kalahari lamb meat dish has the potential to market Khawa region and Botswana as a source of quality and exquisite meat delicacy, thus helping to diversify the tourism in the region from being just Khawa entertainment festivities, Acting President Mr Slumber Tsogwane has said.

Launching Kgalagari lamb meat dish on Friday at Khawa Dune Challenge, he said the meat, which is unique to Kgalagadi region, is one of the efforts by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi to promote value chain addition to local products as opposed to exporting them in raw form, a push purposed to create wealth for residents and boost national economy.

He said dishes (kapei tse di farologanyeng tsa nama ya Kgalagadi) from the lamb meat is an addition to The Khawa dune challenge products, which should surely push growth of the meat industry. He said Botswana beef has won international fame for quality, and kgalagadi lamb meat is another revelations, which information, he said, will help farmers market their beef efficiently to the local and international markets. He said the anticipated revenue from the lamb meat should encourage more Batswana to partake in livestock farming, which in the process will address the country’s food sustainability and security efforts.

He said through intellectual property rights regime, government will assist in protecting the originality of the meat taste and product concept itself, adding that research is in progress to inform and arm farmers with knowledge of the kind of the product they are selling. Research will include even the vegetation influence on the taste.

During the revitalising the small stock drive, white Karakul sheep has proved to be profitable and quality breed farmers can benefit from, hence government efforts to assist small stock farmers around Lubu farm on animal husbandry quality aspects needed by the market. He said a concept of a cattle post is developed around Lubu to assist upcoming small stock farmers with farming skills. He said the concept is also open to farmers to benchmarch and gain knowledge to develop their stock.

Mr Tsogwane said Botswana is benchmarking on neighbouring countries famed for huge small stock population on how to manage predators terrorising farmers, and is committed to assisting farmers ward-off wild animals that thwart stock farming growth.

For her part, Minister of Tourism, Ms Phildah Kereng said the launch signalled a huge tourism potential of Botswana that locals can tap into to create wealth for themselves and help in the value addition as well as diversification drive. She said such addition to Khawa Dune Challenge will increase diversity of the event and attract international tourists. End