Africa-Press – Botswana. The use of technology provides immense potential to unlock opportunities and enable high productivity in the livestock sector, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Molebatsi Molebatsi has said.
Speaking at the official opening of the second edition of Matlapaneng Farmers Field Day near Takatokwane on Saturday, Mr Molebatsi said it was for that reason the ministry was promoting SMART agriculture.
“The importance of the livestock sector cannot be overemphasised as it plays a significant role in the lives of Batswana and contributes significantly to the socio-economic development of the rural communities as a source of food and income, create employment and provide raw materials,” he said.
Agriculture, he said, contributed three per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 80 per cent derived from the livestock sub-sector.
“Therefore, I can safely say the beef sector remains the backbone towards our livelihoods and economic development,” he added.
He said Botswana, known for its high quality beef in the international market space, had been able to sustain the European Union (EU) and Norway markets because of stringent disease control measures in place as well as good animal traceability system that could trace beef from farm to fork. Mr Molebatsi commended farmers for their commitment to compliance through the Botswana Animal Identification and Trace back System (BAITS). “In an effort to increase cattle destined for the EU market we have introduced registration of holdings.
To date, 763 holdings have been registered while 156 have been audited and 35 are EU compliant,” he said. Again, he said, the audit inspection of holdings was ongoing and farmers should register their holdings in large numbers in order to benefit from the export market access.
He said cattle populations had been declining over the years, from three million in 1979 to 1.7 million in 2015 and government had adopted a beef cluster strategy which assisted in improving production, research and technology transfer as well as promotion of robust marketing.
He appealed to farmers to adopt good livestock management practices, keep records on production and business operations, form strong farmers associations and participate in the livestock performance recording scheme and breed top quality animals for international sales.
For his part, chairperson Mr Mozambique Goboletswe said teachers at Mahupu Unified Secondary School started Matlapaneng Farmers Association Field Day with the intention to turn theory into practice.
“As educationists we teach learners theory most of the time and saw the need to introduce practice so that they can learn the practical part of their subject. We then engaged farmers in the community of Takatokwane for collaboration as they have the means,” Mr Goboletswe said, adding Mr William Dekoker was identified as he had several species in his farm.
He identified lack of internet as one of farmer’s major challenges, stock theft and BAITS system which was always down. Mr Dekoker said he was happy to have been identified to host the event where other farmers would learn what he had done over the years. He said his farm had various species, among them different cattle breeds, goats, sheep, donkeys and horses. Mr Dekoker said Takatokwane farmers had a lot of potential and they were the second biggest producer of beef after Ghanzi.
He therefore called on Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) to support farmers in the area. He decried lack of roads and internet and asked government to to come to their assistance as they had the potential to support economic development.
Earlier when welcoming guests, Kgosi Visco Tsiane of Takatokwane hailed the event as a good initiative that needed government support. “It is rare to find teachers grouping themselves and engaging the community for the common good of children and their future,” he said and thus encouraged the agriculture ministry to capacitate them through training, upgrading and technical support.
Member of Parliament for Takatokwane, Mr Friction Leuwe said farming changed lives and carried as much potential as diamond.
Therefore, “there is need to improve road and telecommunications services at the farms for farmers to improve their farm management,” he said. He said the association could be a hub of agriculture and therefore needed to be given opportunity to grow and develop.
“I am worried though that many service providers do not walk the talk as many small farmers are taken from pillar to post when they try to get funding,” he said. He challenged government to speed up Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) payments to farmers.
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