26 May 2025

With over 1.3 billion potential consumers, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a transformative opportunity for Botswana’s beef sector hence farmers must be strategically positioned to meet the required standards and effectively tap into the market.

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) country representative Ms Carla Mucavi told participants at the Nata/Gweta Block Beef Producers Association farmers field day on Saturday that such an opportunity meant that farmers should invest in compliance, certification and quality assurance frameworks that met both regional and international expectations.  She said FAO was working with the government of Botswana on several flagships initiatives among them the Botswana Sustainable Miombo-Mopane Landscape Management Project, which formed part of the global Dryland Sustainable Landscapes. 

The project promotes integrated land management practices that address overgrazing, land degradation and water scarcity while enhancing food nutrition security. Ms Mucavi further noted that another ongoing initiative was the development of the National Fodder Strategy, which would guide the growth of fodder industry and ensure that farmers had reliable access to feed especially during the dry season. The FAO representative stated that another essential component of sustainable livestock development was adherence to good agricultural practices citing among others animal welfare and feed safety, waste management as well as disease control, which are critical to unlocking opportunities under regional and global trade agreements.

Ms Mucavi therefore implored farmers and Batswana in general to exploit the energy to create generational wealth through beef farming, agricultural processing, logistics, marketing and technology driven solutions. FAO, she said, had global expertise and extensive networks and stood ready to work with the government to develop programmes that empowered women and youth in agriculture. Furthermore, she appealed to stakeholders to address a growing concern of youth unemployment and the under-representation of women in commercial agriculture, stating that it was time to reposition agriculture as a path to wealth creation and entrepreneurship instead of it being seen as a last resort when other things one wanted to do have failed.

“Young people and women bring fresh ideas, digital savvy and innovative thinking,” she said

 Ms Mucavi thus said there was need to create platforms that offered mentorship and provided access to land, finance and training to enable women and young people to thrive in this space. Vice chairperson of the association Mr Mabunga Gadibolae explained that the annual field day was a platform to come together to introspect on strategies to adopt in the face of challenging times of severe impacts of climate change. Mr Gadibolae noted that prior to the main event, they arranged sessions with different stakeholders to sensitise farmers and this year Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources came to teach on which crops to plough for stock feed as the farmers strived to produce quality beef despite climate change challenges. 

He added that they were also taken through the processes of testing the fertility of their bulls and heifers. He said this year they failed to bring to the show a good number of livestock because a few days prior to the event they were notified of buffaloes around areas they were keeping their cattle hence movement of animals was restricted until the situation put under control. ENDS