Zimbabwe and Botswana strike a beef deal
Zimbabwe and Botswana strike a beef deal
The Botswana and Zimbabwe Governments represented by the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) and Cold Storage Company (CSC), respectively, agreed to slaughter cattle from Botswana. The CSC would slaughter the cattle at its abattoirs in Bulawayo.
Further developments are that the Ministers of Agriculture from the two (2) countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 11 July
2011, at Holiday Inn Hotel in Bulawayo. The MOU was signed by Dr Joseph Made, the Zimbabwe Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development and his Botswana counterpart, Christian De-Graaf, the Minister of Agriculture and Veterinary Department.
The MOU is meant to arrest the spread of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in both countries. This agreement was followed by a massive vaccination programme would be carried out in districts along the Plumtree, Ramakwebana border post.
The Ministers went on to launch the actual vaccination programme on the same date at Makwela Dip tank Ward 2, Izinyama, Mangwe district. One hundred and two (102) people attended the ceremony. These included a twenty five (25) member delegation from Botswana's Ministry of Agriculture.
While addressing the meeting, De-Graaf said, "The two countries signed a MOU for a two (2) year vaccination programme which would be done three (3) times a year. And this programme would target a (40) kilometre radius around the Botswana/Zimbabwe boundary." He also indicated that he had handed over one million (1m) doses of FMD Trivalent vaccines which would target two hundred and twenty thousand (220 000) cattle.
He added that, "the Botswana Government would provide three (3) vehicles and two (2) veterinary doctors namely Doctor Kigobeli Sagale and Doctor Bernard Mbegi to assist in the exercise." The exercise will run for twelve (12) days in Mangwe district before moving to Beitbridge and Gwanda districts.
Zimbabwe's contribution in this programme is mainly in the form of technical field manpower. A total of one thousand two hundred (1 200) cattle were vaccinated on 11 July 2011.
Dr Made said, "Zimbabwe is committed to seeing Botswana regaining its lost EU export quota. And this MOU should be broadened to other
Sectors of agriculture."
After the signing ceremony, the two (2) Ministers toured the Cold Storage Company (CSC) premises in Bulawayo to witness the slaughter of cattle sold to Zimbabwe by Botswana through its Department of Veterinary Services. The deal involved the delivery of twelve thousand (12 000) cattle to Zimbabwe under a line of credit facility payable after forty five (45) days after delivery. The two (2) countries agreed to a price of three hundred United States dollars (US$300) per beast. A total of six hundred and ninety (690) beasts have so far been slaughtered since 6 July 2011.
On the sidelines, Dr Made said, "the Botswana cattle deal would go a long way in reviving CSC operations in Bulawayo. The beef at the CSC Abattoir would undergo strict health inspection procedures before being declared fit for human consumption. This would allay false rumours by the Standard Page 25 of June 27, 2011 tabloid that the slaughtered beasts were infected with foot and mout
Meanwhile, the CSC Botswana cattle deal has raised concern among some private abattoirs and farmers over the health of the Botswana cattle. They also expressed fears that the deal would push the local beef suppliers out of business.
The CSC Botswana cattle deal should not be mistaken as Botswana's kind gesture to Zimbabwe. Instead, circumstances on the ground have forced
Botswana to engage Zimbabwe in a joint initiative to tackle the foot and mouth disease that made Botswana to lose the European Union (EU) beef export quota.
Botswana was banned from exporting beef to the EU following an outbreak of FMD in February 2011. Botswana has since extended a twelve thousand (12 000) herd of cattle credit scheme to the CSC.
In the recent years Botswana government has been so hostile against the Zimbabwe government. One may therefore question, why all of a sudden they are extending this mutual deal to the country. Is it that they are using Zimbabwe as a safety valve after they failed to export beef to their major EU market owing to an epidemic of FMD in that country?
