Botswana: Botswana Ministry of Agriculture is planning to improve the genetics of the animals and avail sexed (male/female) opportunities which will help increase the National herd, which is low.
Improving genetics does not affect the meat quality of the animals; the quality of meat is affected by what they eat and the medication administered to them. In Botswana, the laws are strict on animal feed. Feeds that are used and sold in Botswana are ensured to be organic. The market of Botswana has animal feed standards at BoBS.
This is a great opportunity for Botswana to export good quality stud animals, semen and embryos in the SADC region, and South Africa is still not controlling their FMD situation.
We have been seeing even SA buy from Botswana farmers recently, which means our growth is commendable. Most countries have closed their borders in importing animals from SA, and it has been impacting negatively the growth of the beef industry in Botswana for the past four years. So this move by Government will be highly beneficial for the farmers in Botswana, giving them an opportunity to purchase quality products at more affordable rates, said the Ministry of Agriculture.
Furthermore, Agriculture Ministry asserted, “Farmers are actually happy about the move. These bulls will be more of an asset because we will be getting our own semen from them, which comes in millions, and we can sell it off to Batswana and export. The animals will be staying at Ramatlabama AI Centre, where we have been currently having bulls, semen and even a training centre.
They will also be increasing and improving the AI training centre for the farmers, which is at subsidized prices.
This is an advantage now that Limid is open farmers should go and apply to build crushes so when courses come out, they are able to learn and come administer on their farms. Also a business opportunity for those that have been trained over the years by the Ramatlabama training centre.
Botswana should await the full announcement on the whole details regarding this. Naysayers and prophets of doom should be ignored. This is what is expected of opposition lots.
Their purpose is to simply criticize and criticize. They oppose everything that comes. That is why they are even failing to meet at a table to decide on how they are going to face the BDP as a collective in the upcoming general election.
As the Botswana Democratic Party, under the very able leadership of Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, they continue to deliver their promises in pursuit of a far greater Botswana than before.