Africa-Press – Botswana. Serowe Milk Collection and Processing Plant has been identified as a key priority project in the National Transformation Plan and its refurbishment would be prioritised in the 2026/2027 budget.
Answering a question in Parliament recently on behalf of the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, the Minister of Communications and Innovation, Mr David Tshere reiterated that resources permitting, the plant would be operational in the first quarter of 2028. He said the plant was constructed at a cost of P8,629,037 and the construction works started in the 2006/2007 financial year and were completed in the 2009/2010 financial year.
Mr Tshere explained that the plant mainly supplied government institutions in Serowe, Mahalapye and Palapye clusters. He said the plant produced only an average of 500 litres per day, far below its capacity of 4,000 litres of pasteurised milk per day.
The minister said owing to frequent breakdowns experienced from 2015, a decision was taken to shutdown the plant in 2019, pending its refurbishment by government. He said government later handed the plant to the Serowe Milk Marketing Agricultural Association on behalf of the communities and dairy associations of Palapye, Serowe and Mahalapye.
Mr Tshere explained that the ministry’s role was limited to providing technical advice and maintenance of the milk processing plant. He noted that following the frequent breakdowns, the ministry took a decision to refurbish the plant at a cost of P8 million as it was unsustainable to continue running it in its dilapidated state.
Also, he said communities and farmer associations were all consulted prior to closing of the plant. In addition, he said government was currently reviewing its support programmes and developing the National Fodder Strategy to assist farmers to upscale dairy production.
He said these, in addition to the existing initiatives such as artificial Insemination (AI) programme, use of sexed semen and Embryo Transfer (ET), were expected to ensure sustainability of this project, and similar dairy projects elsewhere in the country.
The minister was responding to a question from MP for Serowe South, Mr Leepetswe Lesedi, wanted to know when the Serowe milk plant would be operational, how much was spent to construct the plant, why it was closed, the litres of milk it produced on a daily basis before closure and the villages it supplied.
He also wanted to know the level of community involvement in terms of partnerships with the community and dairy associations in and around Serowe and whether they were consulted when the ministry decided to close the plant.
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