Farmers want slice of P97m FMD budget
Larona Makhaiza - Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday February 16, 2026 16:28
JACKALAS NO. 1: When the Mmegi team descended at the border village this week to hear from the farmers and butchery owners themselves, they had a mouthful to say.
The area has become the epicentre of the country’s latest Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak, with the suspension of trade, export, slaughter and related activities involving cattle, goats, sheep and pigs across the country.
While communities groan across the country, it is in Jackalas No 1 that farmers, businesses and ordinary villagers are feeling the pinch of the virus.
One of those feeling the strain is Thomas Shabalala, the managing director of Junction 8 which houses Domboshava Restaurant, Bar and Machipisa Butchery.
“Before this outbreak of Foot and Mouth, I used to slaughter about three carcasses and my target market was foreigners who are truck drivers from South Africa and Zimbabwe as they believe in meat and pap. Even the village supported us because my prices were affordable,” Shabalala said.
But when the FMD outbreak was announced everything changed for the butchery owner who is also a farmer.
“I only had one carcass. I sold half and kept half for my restaurant. Right now I am the only one with meat here and others are selling chicken only. “My sales have dropped badly,” he said.
Food, he explained, is the backbone of his business. “Beer has very slim margins but meat is where we make money and without it we are bleeding,” Shabalala noted with concern.
The crisis has already cost jobs and profit as Shabalala said he has already sent his blockman home, as there is no job for him. In a butchery, the blockman’s job involving cutting, dressing and preparing meat.
“Currently I have 12 employees but one is home now. He is a blockman as he cuts meat but since we are not slaughtering any cattle he had to go home. “More could follow if the situation continues,” he said.
Beyond business losses, Shabalala fears social consequences.
“There are many youths here who survive by working with their hands. If nothing happens, crime may go up because people still need money,” Shabalala said, sounding the horn.
Shabalala has lived through a similar outbreak before and worries Botswana may repeat the painful measures of the past.
“We may go back to what happened around 2010 with red zones and mass slaughter. I appeal to government not to kill people’s cattle. “At least 534 cattle for restocking had just finished arriving and we were expecting to buy nearby instead of traveling far,” Shabalala said.
While authorities have set up roadblocks and veterinary checkpoints in an around the area, locals say they feel excluded from the economic response.
“Grader machines are coming from Gaborone, yet we are the ones affected. There is no FMD in Gaborone. Why not give tenders to locals so the money stays here,” he asked.
Shabalala also questioned P97 million-relief fund.
“People celebrated about the money but no one explained to them what it is for. “What is the breakdown? Who will benefit? We are suffering.” “I am telling you that by the time we are done with this disease, some of these officials that are here will drive back to Gaborone with brand new cars and we will remain with nothing,” Shabalala said cynically.
The afflicted butchery owner and farmer believes that as happened with COVID 19 relief, the P97 million could be used to save jobs.
“If an employee earns P3,000, I could pay P1,500 and government adds P1,500. “That would really help,” he said.
Chairman of the farmers association in Zone 6B, Dignity Mthombeni, echoed Shabalala’s words praying for equal access to opportunities with the P97 million relief fund.
“We want government to at least help with graders so that for we can fix the cordon fences ourselves as we don’t know what the money will be used for. “We want to have cordon fences to control the movement of cattle and people that jump the border,” Mthombeni said.
As Jackalas 1 waits for clarity, farmers and traders hope their voices will reach those holding the purse strings of the promised millions. Government has since promised to update the public of the state of FMD in two weeks.