North East restocking exercise complete

District chairperson, Florah Mpetsane told the ongoing full council meeting in Masunga that a total of 28,213 cattle and 16,760 goats had been returned to the district and only 55 dairy cattle still remained to be purchased and distributed to affected farmers.

Mpetsane said government had decided to compensate all farmers before the end of February 2015. To date 546 cattle have been handed over to 337 farmers as part of the restocking exercise. Meanwhile, Mpetsane said the new Botswana Animal Identification and Trackback System (BAITS) would be rolled out to districts by March throughout the country. The system is government’s central plan to avoid the spread of FMD and minimise its impact on beef exports. She said that all necessary information on the new system would be availed by the Ministry of Agriculture.