Gov�t to apply for FMD-free zones
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday December 6, 2016 15:58
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday, Khama said that government will apply for FMD-free status for Zones 3b (Nata-Gweta) and 7 (Mmadinare-Bobirwa) in May 2017.
He said that the last case of FMD was reported on August 4, 2015 in the North West District. This, he said, has opened doors for Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) to negotiate new beef markets.
“This opens the door for us to negotiate new markets for beef from this district. The FMD situation in the North East District has stabilised as a result of the continuing implementation of joint control of the disease along the shared boundary with Zimbabwe. This has led to re-listing of the Francistown BMC abattoir for export to the EU,” Khama said.Zones 3b and 7 have in the past been frequently hit by cases of FMD due to the shared boundary with Zimbabwe. The outbreaks resulted in government adopting a ‘shoot-to-kill’ strategy of stray cattle out of Zimbabwe.
However, Khama said that there has been an increase in livestock mortalities, especially cattle, in areas south of the Central District and northern Kgatleng and Kweneng districts due to plant poisoning (Parvetta, called legonyana in Setswana).
He also added that Musi cattle breed, developed by Ministry of Agriculture in 1981), is currently being multiplied. Furthermore, he said that government continues to give farmers drought tolerant seeds such as maize and sorghum under the Agricultural Research and Development.
With regard to BMC, Khama noted that it has also grown its export to Europe from about 6,000 tonnes in 2013 to just over 9,000 tonnes in 2015, while hoping to further increase exports in 2016 to over 10,000 tonnes.