26 Mar 2025

Construction of Botswana Meat Commission (BMC)’s new meat value-addition and secondary processing plant is progressing well.

Lobatse Town Council Mayor Mr Aron Ganakgomo revealed during a full council session on Monday that the P230 million project was expected to be completed by June 2026.

Once complete, he said plant would help the commission in achieving return-on-investment within two years of operation, contributing approximately P350 million per year to BMC’s annual turnover. 

The project will employ 135 people during construction and have 40 to 60 permanent positions during operation, he said.

He also said the revitalisation of  tannery, which was estimated to cost P218 million  also add to the key components of BMC transformation. 

He said once refurbished with an Effluent Treatment Plant component, the tannery would be able to process hides up to the wet-blue stage.

The mayor said the revitalised tannery was anticipated to employ 70 to 80 full-time employees thus stimulating the development of greater Lobatse Leather Park Project. 

The tannery halted its operations in 2006 due to environmental concerns. 

The Mayor thus said it was critical to work collectively to fast track implementation of all projects as they could positively transform the town’s socio-economic outlook.

Updating the council on another key project, he said Milk Valley Farm formerly Milk Afric commenced operations in June 2024 after procurement of 214 cows, which included 91 milking cows, two bulls and 121 cows and heifers. 

He highlighted that the farm was established to accommodate 2 000 milking cows, each with a daily production capacity of over 20 litres of milk. 

However, he said due to the import ban on cloven-hoofed animals from South Africa, herd expansion had been a challenge at the farm. To deal with the challenge, he said the farm developed a breeding plan that included procurement of sexed semen from cows with superior genetics and sourced cows from local farmers. 

To date, he said the farm had employed 18 workers, including four women, adding that at full capacity, the farm anticipates to generate over 250 direct and indirect jobs. 

Mr Ganakgomo said currently the main buyer of products was Choppies Superstores even though they occasionally experienced breakdowns, which disrupted sales, leading to milk wastage.

He said another key project was Lobatse Clay Works (LCW), which resumed partial operations in September 2024, with a workforce of 155 employees, noting that more jobs were expected as production increased. 

To further enhance the quality of products and services, LCW would acquire BOBS final certification by end of March 2025 after necessary corrections.

Meanwhile, he said intensive marketing of sales was ongoing as the company intended to revive export markets by conducting market sensitisation efforts in Namibia and South Africa. 

Mr Ganakgomo also noted that Lobatse Meat and Leather City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) continued to gain traction.

He said Lobatse SEZ had been established to focus mainly on beneficiation of red and white meat, beneficiation of processed leather into various finished products and milk processing.

So far, he said progress had been attained to advance SEZ to be developed as captured in the National Development Plan 12, which included, but not limited to; development of master a plan completed in 2021, approval of phase one (100ha), detailed layout plan and a cadastral survey, which yielded 72 industrial and 12 commercial plots.

He added that the development of a feasibility study had shown that SEZ was economically viable and financially feasible for a Public Private Partnership development. ENDS