Appearing before the Parliamentary Select Committee investigating the collapse of the BMC and the decline of the beef industry yesterday, Tombale said currently only two people man the UK office to oversee accounts and the marketing of Botswana beef in Europe."They were not serving us the way we wanted. That office seemed to be working against us," he said. He related that at some point, officers at the UK office awarded themselves hefty salaries, unsanctioned by headquarters.He further told the committee that the Norway market, which has the most competitive prices, can only accommodate 1,600 tonnes of Botswana meat. He added that currently about 1,300 tonnes have already penetrated the market. He said in his turnaround strategy, the BMC is looking at other markets, adding that countries such as Iran, Kuwait and other African countries are interested in Botswana meat.He also revealed that some of the problems that they encounter at the BMC relate to farmers. Tombale said for the BMC to be more profitable, it has to kill at least 200,000 cattle per year, considering the fact that 5 percent will have measles. "That (measles) automatically disqualifies the meat from the European market," he said. He added that the situation has worsened to 30 percent (of kill with measles), which makes the parastatal's problems worse. He said that they are issues of animals with multiple boluses, which means that the carcasses of affected animals is downgraded.
