06 Jul 2026

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) has attributed late payment for Ngamiland cattle producers to the Foot and Mouth outbreak.  BMC Executive Manager Livestock Procurement, Mr Kenneth Makubate said BMC had experienced losses due to the recent FMD outbreak in the Southern part of the country.   

Mr Makubate said this when addressing cattle producers in Gumare recently.  He said BMC had as a result of the outbreak suffered a catastrophe when the European Union market, which contributed immensely to the BMC profits got affected in the process.

 Botswana Meat Commission, according to Mr Makubate was now not able to adhere to the usual turnaround time for cattle producers and failed to pay farmers in the entire Ngamiland timely.  

“Although the BMC payment turnaround time was set at two weeks,  the commission has however been able to pay farmers within three to four days in the past due to availability of funds,” he said promising farmers that the commission was doing the best it could under the circumstances to assist farmers accordingly.

He told farmers also that BMC was exploring other markets in countries like Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).   Commenting, farmers raised concern that delayed payments negatively affected their lives since they sold cattle hoping to use proceeds to address imminent challenges and responsibilities.  

Farmers decried the perennial failure by the commission to pay them on time on an annual basis and called for BMC to find a practicable solution to the problem once and for all. ENDS