- Say P2 840 rate per beast is far below market prices
- Argue price per beast in the EU is P18K
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
The Chairman of the North East Farmers Association, Andrew Seeletso, says the compensation of P2 840 per beast for cattle facing depopulation as a control measure against Foot and Mouth Disease in Zone 6b area is too stinting.
The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Molebatsi Molebatsi, has announced that the government has decided to depopulate the cattle and compensate the farmers with P2 840 per beast as a strategy to fight FMD in Zone 6b where the bovine disease recently broke out.
Regardless of age, sex or breed
The figure will be the same irrespective of the age, sex or breed of the cattle culled while compensation for other cloven animals shall be P600 each.
Further, Minister Molebatsi said farmers will be compensated at a ratio of 70 percent cash and 30 percent per animal head.
However, Seeletso has told The Botswana Gazette in an interview that they are contemplating engaging the government about reviewing the compensation rate. He said the North East Farmers Association is of the view that although the rate is better than nothing, it is far below the current market price of cattle.
P32 per kg
Before the recent FMD outbreak in Zone 6b, Seeletso said the market price for a beast in the European Union (EU) was around P18 000 and around P32 per kg in Botswana.
The population of the cattle area that was recently hit by FMD outbreak is estimated at 19 000, most of them in Tsamaya and its environs. Goats are around 11 000 while sheep are estimated at 2007.
This is not the first time that farmers have complained about the compensation rate for cattle destroyed to curb FMD when the disease broke out in Zone 6.