New Zealand handholds local beef farmers
Isaac Pinielo | Thursday May 7, 2015 18:00
The training is aimed at improving productivity in the local beef sector by enabling increased beef cattle production and improved agribusiness enterprise management that will contribute towards achieving improved livelihoods amongst beef farmers.
Three groups of extension officers, farmers and herdsmen from Botswana’s southern district have commenced training in the first year of the programme at the Ramatlabama Range Management Training Centre.
Equally, selected ministry personnel are being trained as trainers to facilitate the replication and expansion of the programme, as it will be rolled out to the rest of the country in the next three years. The training is targeted at farmers with a minimum herd size of 100 herd of cattle. According to the ministry, the programme would over a period of one year, deliver four seasonally applicable, hands-on, thematic training modules to address knowledge gaps in the beef sector.
The modules include breeding and mating, animal health and disease prevention, farm business management, feeding, nutrition and pasture management.
Speaking at the launch of the training programme on Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture, Patrick Ralotsia expressed optimism that the initiative provides the potential for commercially viable beef production agribusiness enterprise. “With the skills [that will be] acquired from the training, there is bound to be a significant improvement in productivity of the beef sub-sector in the country,” he said.
The programme provides practical, industry-led livestock management training facilitated by Land Based Training through tailored technical assistance, which draws on New Zealand’s comparative advantage in beef production.
Land Based Training is an innovative and award winning Tertiary Education Provider, registered as a private training establishment by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
Ralotsia urged all stakeholders to participate actively and fully in the project, noting that government can only facilitate farming by providing a conducive environment such as this training whereas actual production of agricultural commodities remains the responsibility of the farmers.
Productivity of the beef sub-sector remains low with the average national calving rate estimated at 53 percent against an ideal of 80 percent, whilst mortality and off-take rates are at seven and nine percent respectively.
Despite the challenges, the government is committed to developing the beef sub-sector because this is one area where the country has comparative advantage. Botswana and Namibia are Africa’s largest exporters of beef.
New Zealand High Commissioner, Richard Mann said his government has committed to the beef training programme.
Mann added that his country has globally recognised expertise, reputation and capability in pastoral farming. “We have expertise to offer in the beef sector in areas such as animal health, farm management, breeding and nutrition,” he said.
The high commissioner also expressed gratification at the fact that the training is not only done at the Ramatlabama Range Management Training Centre, but also out in the field. He added that it was impressive to note the project involves everyone in the value chain of beef production including farmers, herdsmen, agricultural extension officers and government officials responsible for developing Botswana’s beef sector. New Zealand is internationally recognised for being a strong agricultural country with primary industries contributing over two-thirds of its exports.
“Farming is our national DNA. We are exceptionally good at pastoral farming, temperate horticulture, plantation forestry and sustainable fisheries,” he explained.
According to Mann, New Zealand exports large quantities of the food it produces. Like Botswana, New Zealand has a fairly small population of 4.5 million people.
“We produce a lot more food than we consume, so we export around the world. For example, 95 percent of our milk is exported, including to African countries,” he said.
Botswana’s agricultural sector is still dominated by livestock production.
Many Batswana depend directly or indirectly on cattle for their livelihoods. However, with the cattle population estimated at 2.5 million, it is clear that productivity within the industry is still low and needs to be improved. The cattle are kept predominantly under communal arrangements and small scale farmers also dominate ownership, which accounts for 80 percent of the population, while commercial farmers who are in ranches or fenced farms own the remaining 20 percent.
Like many countries in Africa, Botswana faces many challenges such as drought, slow adoption of technology and animal diseases that are a constraint to the development of the beef sub-sector.
The continued outbreak of trans-boundary animal diseases has impacted negatively on the government’s ability to address some of the Millenium Development Goals.
Over the past several years, Botswana experienced unprecedented outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. These outbreaks resulted in the loss of the much needed foreign exchange earnings from the country’s traditional international beef markets.