Sale of BMC to Americans not the answer

When the Lome convention of 1975 offered Botswana beef duty-free access to the lucrative European Union market, the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), naturally, became the instrument by which the State cashed in on this market.  The high beef prices in the European market meant the BMC could pay individual farmers high prices for their cattle.  The distributive effect of this arrangement and its ameliorative impact on poverty in rural households was attractive to government, and it explained vast subsidies channeled to the cattle sector.

The BMC is a long-running monopoly, the only authority that is permitted to export or approve export of beef by other exporters.  This beef sector eco-system, it was argued, was important to meet the onerous standards set by both the International Office of Epizootics and the European Union - on disease, hygiene, transportation and identification of cattle - without which the sales to those markets would be prohibited.