13 Apr 2026

The Botswana Meat Commission abattoir in Lobatse has temporarily shut down, a decision that was informed by the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Zone 11, Southern part of Botswana.

This was done to allow for control interventions that will help restore the overall health integrity and compliance of the operation to control the disease.

Maun abattoir however, remains operational and efforts are underway to resuscitate the Francistown abattoir, Acting Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Edwin Dikoloti said during a press brief yesterday in Gaborone.

“There was already noticeable improvement that the BMC had registered but the closure of the abattoir has negatively impacted the gains.”

Dr Dikoloti explained that as a result of the outbreak, slaughter operations had been suspended at key facilities which included Lobatse plant and other affected abattoirs, one of which had only recently secured licensing for domestic slaughter.

He further said government would donate around 50 000 FMD vaccines to Zimbabwe, to tighten its management and control efforts.

Dr Dikoloti said move, was a strategic alliance to ensure overall effective bilateral management of the disease across the two borders and the vaccines would supplement efforts evoked earlier this year, to continue containing the disease in the North-East Zones where the initial outbreak of the disease was reported.

Under the control plan, government has seamlessly restricted the movement of cloven-hoofed animals and their by-products beyond veterinary zones.

In spite of the existing interventions by government to contain the disease, a recent outbreak has been confirmed in the Goodhope region, particularly in the Ramatlabama Artificial Insemination Centre.

Dr Dikoloti stated that the emergence of the disease in the Goodhope region, particularly Ramatlabama Artificial Insemination Centre suggested that there was need for more intentional approaches to manage the spread of the disease.

“Despite that there was zero movement of animals in or out of the Ramatlabama Centre, we still reported an outbreak, implying that it could have diffused through other means,” said Dr Dikoloti, adding that government’s approach would be more stringent and strategic, to the control of movement of animals within the veterinary zones.

Department of Veterinary Service acting director, Dr Kobedi Segale assured the nation that government had heavily invested necessary resources including highly qualified health professionals with the competencies required to help Botswana manage the scourge and restore its international reputation.

“Our aim is to recapture the markets we have already lost since the disease broke out,” said Dr Segale and pleaded with farmers to tighten their oversight responsibilities regarding movement of animals across gazetted zones.

“Let’s exercise patriotism and nationhood in our individual approaches to manage this scourge. We can only manage if farmers are selflessly invested in the control plan. This is a controllable disease, if we remain united and selfless, there would be no need for government to spend more in fighting it,” he said.

So far, from the P97 million fund reserved for controlling the FMD scourge, P37 million has been utilised. ENDS