The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) will next week officially launch a direct purchase Scheme (DPS) also known as the Live buy initiative in Ngamiland that is set to boost the beef industry whilst also addressing procurement challenges farmers have been facing.
Among the problems the new arrangement is expected to resolve include BMC’s late payments to farmers, inconsistent supply of cattle, financial burdens of quarantine system farmers have been incurring as well as limited market access.
BMC Acting chief executive officer, Kesolofetse Tibe recently made the announcement about this direct purchase scheme during a meeting with representatives of Ngamiland farmers associations in Maun.
The meeting follows the one held in early June this year where farmers complained about the quarantine system and requested for BMC to instead directly purchase live cattle from them.
The commission has finally heeded the request and BMC CEO noted that under the new model, the commission will purchase cattle directly from farmers at P16.00/kg live weight.
She revealed that the cattle will be bought at approved collection points adding that the commission will also incur all the burdens and costs that comes with the quarantine requirement.
Tibe also noted that there will no longer be delays in paying farmers assuring that the money will be disbursed in three days. This as in the old arrangement farmers decried late payments that will go for over three months.
The acting CEO also announced the introduction of another efficient paying system (e-wallet blue card) in instances where farmers don’t have bank accounts. According to her, the new system which will only require and Identity Card (Omang) is capable of transacting up to P500,000 per farmer.
“We believe that this will help increase the number of cattle that we will be slaughtering in Maun. Just like in Lobatse where we slaughter seven days a week, the same will also be happening in Maun if the number of cattle received is satisfactory as we hope.”
The decision has however attracted mixed reactions from farmers with some welcoming initiative while other against it.
Local farmer, Kostantinos Markus appreciated that the new arrangement provide what farmers in Ngamiland have long wanted as it will improve their livelihoods. He also expressed delight that farmers will no longer incur the costs that came with the quarantine process and that there will no longer be delays in payments.
Those who hailed the new arrangement are also happy that farmers would still have the option to either sell their cattle as live weight (P16/kg) or through the CDM model at the price of P38/kg.
On the other hand, some farmers complained that the new price is way below the previous P38/kg of Cold Dress Mass (CDM). “But this doesn’t heed our request because we did not agree to the new price,” another local farmer, Simon Bojosi complained.
The expectation to him was for BMC to have allowed farmers to negotiate a better price and reach an agreement. Bojosi also complained that farmers were not well represented in the meeting something which hindered them to propose a better price.
Meanwhile, the CEO said though Ngamiland beef have access to a number of international markets they however remain inactive noting that a bulk of it is still sold locally. She however indicated that they are currently in talks with the DRC to penetrate their market and that they also have received an order from Lebanon.
Further, Tibe added that they are also in the process to ensure that the Maun abattoir gets accredited for halal slaughter in order to access the UAE market.
“We have completed the first step and we are expecting them to come and audit the abattoir in November. If all succeeds then Ngamiland beef will also be exported to UAE.”
