Live cattle exports extended to April
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | 1400 Views |

OPEN SEASON: Live cattle exports have been extended PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
The latest decision follows a series of extensions allowing local farmers to export live cattle to other countries, primarily South Africa, as the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) has continued to face operational challenges. Live cattle sales were temporarily opened up from October 2020 as a way of giving farmers alternative income streams outside of the BMC, which was the sole institution statutorily allowed to export beef products in the country. Under the dispensation, farmers were allowed to export live cattle and export meat products. Initially, the live cattle sales dispensation was expected to run for four years and end in 2024. The Ministry of Agriculture announced that the initiative would end in December last year as authorities believed that the BMC had resurrected its operations and was ready to pay competitive prices to farmers.
Under the administration of former president Mokgweetsi Masisi, the government had decided to further extend the live cattle sales, while at the same time accelerating plans to liberalise the beef industry to boost its growth and vibrancy. Statistics Botswana figures indicate that the value of live cattle exports was P647 million in 2023. For the first three quarters of 2024, the value of live cattle exports stood at P405 million.
According to figures released by the Bank of Botswana (BoB), meat exports which primarily comprised beef, soared to P173.6 million in the first quarter of 2024, the highest quarterly outcome since 2019. The beef sector insiders previously told BusinessMonitor that the drought had left farmers with no option but to panic sell their livestock to the BMC in an attempt to get the most out of their rapidly thinning herd. With little pasture nationwide after the long dry spell, farmers were forced to dispose of their livestock to minimise their losses.
We duly congratulate them to have ousted the long ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power. Prior to taking power from the BDP, the coalition had made several election promises that are credited for influencing change and swaying the people to vote in its favour.The party had made an undertaking, which its leader and President Duma Boko consistently bellowed in his campaign trail. These undertakings were promises that Batswana would be...