Texas cattle adapting well – Molao
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday August 29, 2023 17:50
The cattle were bought by the government to revive the livestock sub-sector and ensure value chain development within the sector by improving the national herd and its genetic merit. The cattle are currently housed at Ramatlabama National AI Laboratory. When the cattle arrived in Botswana in May, the acquisition sparked debate. President Mokgweetsi Masisi then gave himself a pat on the back for a job well done and assured Batswana that these animals are elite, of superior genetics, and will adapt well to the local environment as they are from a state in the USA that has almost similar climatic conditions to that of Botswana.
Speaking at the National Agric Show on Friday at Sebele, Agriculture minister, Fidelis Molao said the animals are looked after and adapting very well to the Botswana environment. “It was indeed a worthy investment. This is a reminder that these cattle will be used in the production of germplasm in the form of embryos and semen for both domestic use and export markets. The semen will be made available to all Batswana across the country,” he said. He said the cattle in Ramatlabama from Texas are a compliment and a testament to the revised artificial insemination programme. “The programme is aimed at addressing the decline in the national herd. Some critical objectives of this programme are the upgrading of the laboratory into an export facility and centre for excellence to conserve, and promote indigenous breeds such as Mositswana, and Dithuli and to build capacity for our extension officers and farmers alike,” Molao pointed out.
He also announced that government has revised and made a determination that training fees at the Ramatlabama and other centres will be considerably slashed. “To train for our AI trainees for 18 days you only need to pay P500 for registration and nothing else. This comes down from P7,000 that was initially levied,” he announced. Molao also revealed that a team from A&M AgriLife Research University were in Botswana and has since visited the Ramatlabama facility which is currently housing the elite cattle. He said the team is part of implementing the Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) the government signed last year on December 16. Government last year signed an MoU with Texas A&M AgriLife Research University. “The MoU is the framework for our current and future collaborations. We have set up a think-tank team that will be driving the implementation of the MoU in collaboration with A&M. The team comprises a team of captains of industry from the actual sector in the field of academia, technology and research,” he said.
For his part, Dr Cliff Lamb from A&M said in the week that they have spent in Botswana visiting many institutions amongst them the Ramatlabama facility, they realised that there is a strong push to adopt technology. “We want everybody to think about the adoption of technology but that alone is not going to improve our production if we don’t take care of the other extremely important things. If you adopt artificial insemination but you fail to feed cattle mineral or fail to feed them a balanced diet they are not going to conceive and they are not going to be productive,” Lamb highlighted.
He said their team is there to make sure they figure out ways to collaborate with the government of Botswana to enhance the efficiency of the agricultural sector in Botswana.