Botswana’s cattle industry faces an ‘existential threat’ as government restrictions on live cattle exports, financial problems at the state-owned Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) and foot-and-mouth disease disrupt the country’s beef producers, Botswana Congress Party Vice President Unity Dow said.
Dow said she had received complaints from cattle farmers, agricultural stakeholders and members of the public about government policies, with producers repeatedly telling her that ‘the sector is on its knees.’
She accused the government of maintaining policies that have left farmers dependent on an underperforming BMC while preventing them from accessing alternative markets.
Beef producers are required to sell live cattle to the BMC at government-set prices, while the commission does not consistently pay on time or at market prices, Dow said. Farmers sell cattle to the BMC for about P52/kg while the commission sells beef to the European Union for about P100/kg, she said.
‘The BMC is a failed and failing State Owned Enterprise kept afloat by the sweat of farmers and by the public purse (with the current economic situation, by loans!).’
Dow also questioned the commission’s finances, saying its books have not been audited since 2021 and alleging that the BMC classified European Union prepayments as profit last year. She called for the government to activate legislation passed in 2019 that was intended to liberalise the cattle industry and allow citizens to acquire shares in the BMC.
Dow said the government should also permit live cattle exports, arguing that South Africa is prepared to buy Botswana cattle and that exports could inject more than P2.5 billion into the economy. ‘Allowing live exports will lead to the injection into an ailing economy,’ she said.
The restrictions are particularly damaging because the BMC lacks the capacity to absorb all slaughter-ready cattle even if its facilities reopen, according to Dow. Keeping cattle in feedlots for as long as nine months is costly and could leave farmers facing mounting debts, layoffs and bankruptcy, she said.
‘Not allowing live exports under current circumstances means zero income to farmers, layoffs in the industry, over-feeding in feedlots and general aging of cattle. It means bankruptcy!’ Dow said foot-and-mouth disease had intensified an existing crisis rather than caused it, while warning that projected El Niño conditions could further pressure livestock producers.
‘FMD situation has exacerbated an already bad crisis, but the problem is not new,’ she said. ‘Not trading for 9 months is an existential threat for many farmers. Expect lay-offs, unpaid loans, over stocking, bankruptcy and sadly mental health issues.’
She argued that the BMC’s protected monopoly was ultimately undermining the industry it was created to support. ‘The continued protection of the BMC through maintaining as a monopoly, price-setting and expansion into local retail is destroying the beef industry and is directly responsible for the low salaries of farm workers.’