Dialogue on the beef sector

Staff Writer | Monday November 17, 2014 15:44

The topic of the dialogue is the development of Botswana’s beef value chain and will include presentations from local, regional and international experts on the subject.

The Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) recently engaged the International Trade Centre (ITC) to undertake a Value Chain Analysis and Development (VCAD) on the Botswana beef sector.

The objective of the VCAD was to identify bottlenecks and constraints in the sector’s value chain, especially related to exports and Small, Micro and Medium-Enterprises (SMMEs), and propose an action plan to alleviate such constraints.

Botswana’s beef sector remains important for the country’s rural population, and it continues to be an important source of export earnings. It has been highlighted as a strategic sector to be promoted to support the country’s Economic Diversification Drive (EDD). At the same time, it is hampered by structural challenges, including an export monopoly and lack of scale, which reduce its commercial potential.

Botswana’s beef industry is complex, involving a range of actors and channels with diverse objectives and needs but dominated by traditional beef cattle production systems.

However, the potential offered by this sector are enormous if entrepreneurial dynamism, use of modern technologies of production and processing, and linkages to premium markets are established. The beef VCAD offers opportunities for modernising and integrating domestic, regional and international beef trade and access to markets.

The objectives of the beef stakeholders meeting also include facilitation of the dialogue between the public and private sector entities involved in the beef industry.

The participants will include the Ministry of Agriculture, National Strategy Office, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Botswana National Beef Producers Union, SMMEs of the beef sector, SADC beef associations, EU beef associations, financing institutions and donors.