21 Jan 2014

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) chief executive officer, Dr Akolang Tombale, has appealed to the Ngamiland community to support the institution to ensure it regains its life.

Addressing a kgotla meeting to brief the communities about what was happening at BMC, Dr Tombale said a lot had been done to address problems that had besieged the institution. He said the institution had been making losses for the past five years and the situation had drastically improved.

“We have done all in our power to improve the situation and put BMC in a better position and bring in a positive turnaround to the loss-making beef industry,” he said.

Dr Tombale said the BMC faced a challenge of selling and retaining the European market as it was forced to comply with the European requirement standards. Dr Tombale said the BMC was an institution for Batswana farmers, adding that the institution was established to buy local cattle not to make profits.

He said it was a fact that the institution was not performing well, hence the government took a decision to form a parliamentary committee which travelled around the country soliciting ideas from farmers.

He said in 2012, the BMC lost P288 million; in 2011 P233 million; and in 2010, P196 million and it was forced to close because of foot and mouth disease.

In 2013, the BMC management had to revisit the way it was doing things with an aim to improve and satisfy the EU requirements. “We had to set ourselves a target after we benchmarked from Namibia as they use some people to sell their meat,” he said.

Dr Tombale said since then, the institution recovered and managed to make corporative profits of P36 million and “I believe no more loses would be incurred in future”. He said they made an agreement on livestock purchase which iwas not yet signed and hoped it would bring positive results to address to inefficiency in the beef industry.

He said he appreciated the challenges faced by Ngamiland farmers such as lack of market and low prices of buying cattle at BMC. He said Department of Veterinary Services was expected to ensure meat from their area was sold country wide while government continued to look for other markets.

He said BMC management tried countries such as Angola and an agreement was made but the problem was how to export the meat because meat from the red zone was not allowed to pass through some areas.

Regarding Zimbabwe market, he said they had their own protocol and agreed that they would buy live cattle from the farms. He acknowledged that it is true that in Botswana prices are low as compared to other countries and emphasised the need to improve them.

He said there was a lot to be addressed and urged farmers to argument efforts made by the institution so that they could change its image. The chief executive officer also cautioned farmers about measles disease and urged them to comply with the hygiene standards.

He said they should ensure that there were ablutions at their cattle posts and farms or alternatively use a tablet that prevented the spread of the disease. For their part, farmers commended Dr Tombale for his update and making efforts to change the BMC.

They said the beef industry was facing a difficult situation and he managed to rectify the inefficiencies that crippled the institution. Farmers said assured him support, noting that at least they have a common understanding about what was happening at the national abattoir. ENDS