The Botswana Meat Commission has revealed that more farmers have come on board to sell their cattle to the Commission during the second quarter of 2014 (Q2:14). BMC revealed that it has been receiving a large number of cattle from farmers throughout the country over the last few weeks, following good grazes in the first quarter.
He added that most farmers rushed to sell their cattle to BMC after they gained weight in the first quarter, which was a huge relief from the devastating drought that killed a large number of cattle in the last few years.
“I am happy to announce that we have been receiving sufficient numbers of cattle especially in the Lobatse abattoir where our feedlots are almost full. The picture is not much different in our sister abattoirs in Francistown and Maun”, said BMC official Andrew Modise this week.
Modise told The Telegraph that BMC abattoirs have so far killed in excess of 7593 cattle which is expected to rise as the year draws to an end.
“We are predicting a good year in so far as sale of cattle is concerned”, he said.
Modise further aligned the upward trend in sales of cattle to the fact that BMC takes shorter periods than before to pay farmers for cattle sold. This was after the Commission was recently given a lifeline by Parliament, which approved a request by BMC for a P300m bank guarantee to Standard Chartered Bank. Through the guarantee, BMC will be able to borrow money that will enable it to pay farmers for cattle purchased within two days after delivery of cattle. Outgoing Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo told the Parliament that government agreed to the guarantee after analyzing the abattoirs’ financial records and were satisfied that the Commission was on the right financial track as it has started making profits.
