Former President, Dr Festus Mogae has called on the beef sectors in Botswana and Namibia to create a single beef exporting market in order to become more competitive internationally, a Namibia online publication, New Era, has reported. Mogae was reportedly giving a keynote address during the 2nd Founders and Alumni Dinner held by the Namibia Business School in Namibia last week. The dinner was held under the theme – ‘Botswana and Namibia: Strategic options for shared prosperity amidst global challenges’.
He reportedly said this would help the beef sectors of the two countries to deal with challenges, which they face individually in the more competitive international markets, together.
“Our beef industries must come together and create a single beef market, this will not only make us more competitive, but it will also help us to deal with demands we are finding difficult to meet individually,” he was quoted as saying.
He said the two countries will not be able to compete with bigger beef suppliers such as Brazil if they fail to unify their beef markets. “If we put our products together to process and export them jointly we may withstand the rough times posed by international markets. Namibia and Botswana have excellent quality beef, the problem lies with quantity because we are not united,” he was quoted further.