27 Jan 2026

The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in South Africa and Zimbabwe necessitates the implementation of strict measures to prevent its spread into FMD-free-zone.

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) acting chief executive officer, Ms Mmabasotho Tibe said it was critical to employ preventative measures especially in the FMD free Zone areas to continue to satisfy BMC’s traditional and premium markets of European Union and Norway which offered lucrative prices. 

The acting CEO thus said based on the standard veterinary control protocols, BMC would restrict or close operations when an FMD case was confirmed within a 10 km radius of surveillance.

This she noted would lead to strict movement of people, cattle or cloven hooved animals adding that it might lead to people not being permitted to cross to FMD free zone areas.

She said BMC worked with the department of veterinary services adding that measures were being put in place to avoid occurrence of any eventualities. At present, Ms Tibe said BMC abattoirs had been fully secured.

FMD foot bath, she said, had been put in place to disinfect footwear and all vehicles as well as cattle trucks that entered BMC facilities were disinfected. Ms Tibe warned of the serious trade and economic impact should FMD outbreak hit Botswana.

“It would mean that Botswana will lose out on the lucrative market of European Union and Norway. However, we are currently exploring alternative markets. We can get other markets but the reality is that they do not pay the same market price as EU and Norway,” she said.

Ms Tibe said BMC was working to diversify its heavy reliance on its traditional markets to ensure long term sustainability of beef exports.

She underscored that even though such markets continued to offer premium value under existing trade arrangements, BMC had achieved notable progress in opening high growth, less restrictive markets across the Gulf Cooperation Council, Greater Africa, and Asia.

Additionally, she said the strategic shift was meant to develop a more resilient, multi-market export in order to secure long term sustainability, profitability and competitiveness of Botswana’s beef industry.

She noted that historically, South Africa had been a major destination for Botswana beef but recent FMD-related market disruptions had constrained demand prompting BMC to intensify diversification efforts within Southern African Development Community region and the broader African continent. 

Ms Tibe highlighted that BMC had thus far advanced market penetration efforts within the SADC region which include Angola, Mozambique and Lesotho and the broader African continent which included the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Meanwhile, executive director and senior analyst at Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) in South Africa, Dr Mmatlou Kalaba, when speaking to Newsroom Africa, recently warned of the seriousness and the complexity of FMD once it entered South Africa.

He said when FMD outbreak hit South Africa in 2019, the country lost its status as an FMD free country. He noted that it was a serious drawback to the growth of the livestock sector which cost the country a substantial loss to the economy, adding that failure to control FMD could lead to the disease rapidly spreading to other parts of the country.

He said in 2019 FMD affected only two provinces in South Africa and later spread to seven provinces which became a challenge to control.

Dr Kalaba noted that business and value chains built around livestock were disrupted, and trade which was substantially linked to agriculture was affected adding that South Africa trade partners closed their borders to beef products from that country which affected the competitiveness that South Africa was known for. BOPA