Minister urges self-dependency in food production
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday August 1, 2023 06:00
He stated that the change is occurring at a time when the nation is urging a decrease in reliance on foreign food products and is actively exploring ways to produce and export goods to boost domestic revenue.
Officiating at the 49th Ghanzi Agricultural Show last week, Molao said over 300 farmers within the district ploughed and planted over 700 hectares of cereal, legumes, and pulses. He encouraged farmers to increase the numbers in both arable and horticultural farming to help Botswana attain food security and reduce the import bill.
On the issues of cattle, he said the district had an offtake of over 43,000 cattle, while 32,461 cattle were exported to South Africa. “Without reliable agriculture, hunger, wars and other ailments are inevitable. Even during biblical times, agriculture was still a core of livelihoods and as such, we have to nurture and ensure agricultural growth in the country.
The performance and commitment of farmers in the Ghanzi District are commendable and can be used as an example for the rest of the country to benchmark from,” he said.
Molao further said exporting live cattle in large numbers to neighbouring South Africa continues to threaten the beef industry. Therefore, the government saw it fit to revise the live export dispensation as an effort to increase the cattle population which has declined, the minister said. He continued: “I am informed that it is estimated that during the financial year of 2022-2023, Ghanzi District had an offtake of 43,671 cattle and 419.58 tonnes of beef was produced. A total of 32,691 cattle were exported to South Africa.
In the same financial year, the district had an offtake of 1,015 for sheep, 2014 goats, and 7.18 tonnes of mutton and 15.43 tonnes of chevron were produced.” He said his ministry has since revised the live export dispensation despite the offtake numbers. He further revealed that since the inception of the dispensation in October 2020, up to May 5, a cumulative figure of 438,140 cattle have been exported to neighbouring countries, compared to 58,017 cattle slaughtered at Botswana Meat Commission during the same period.
He said more cattle are being exported than those slaughtered locally, the majority of which are young animals, a development threatening the local beef industry considering reforms being implemented to resuscitate the sub-sector.
He said there are several other reasons why this dispensation had to be revised, some of which surround issues of export permit acquisition and others surrounding noted cases of fraud, just to mention a few. The minister said effective from July 1 to September 28 each exporter is allowed to export cattle twice per month. From October 1 to December 21 each exporter will be allowed to export cattle once per month. He said the export of live cattle for slaughter comes to an end this year (December 31).