Beef industry under heightened measles threat
Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday August 16, 2016 18:00
Speaking in an interview, Ralotsia said Botswana Meat Commission records a six percent loss in all the cattle it receives for slaughter due to the disease.
He added that the most affected are cattle from communal areas especially those around the Ngami area. He further noted that the rate of affection in areas around Lake Ngami area reaches as much as 13% of the cattle.
The minister said the disease that cattle pick from human waste cannot be detected in a living animal, but evidence of it only shows after slaughter. “This is a serious threat to our beef industry. We need the nation to know that the disease is a threat to the beef market because nobody will be interested to buy beef that is persistently pronounced to have measles,” he said. He added that with Botswana being the best beef producer in Africa, it calls for strategies that will eradicate the disease completely so that the country’s standing is not affected.
He added however that the disease situation in the country has not reached crisis level yet but it is heading there.
He added that government will soon embark on a campaign to sensitise people to participate in the control of the disease.
“There must be a strategy in place to control the disease and Botswana has a good record in terms of eradicating animal diseases and the same is possible with measles,” he said.