Farmer's Weekly Africa

John Deere’s flexible financing solutions

Setting up a cattle farm in central Botswana

Modernising communal farming in Molepolole

Cover photo: Denene Erasmus

Overcoming challenges to produce top-quality beef

Botswana holds great potential for investors

Why top carrot producer focuses on diversification

Realities in Africa – tough but lucrative

Producing world-renowned Brahman genetics

African countries need reliable, local data on sugar taxes

Drawing inspiration from Botswana’s farmers

Ihave always firmly believed that South African farmers are some of the world’s most innovative and hard-working people; they have the thankless task of producing food for people who often use them as scapegoats for matters such as climate change, amongst others, and they do so with little (if any) help from government. After putting together this supplement on farming in Botswana, I have decided that Botswanan farmers deserve a place on my list.

Botswana is a relatively small country, with a population of only around 2,3 million people. But despite its size, its economy has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few decades.

According to the World Bank, Botswana was one of the world’s poorest countries in 1966; however, it is expected to be a high-income country by 2036. Despite a more than 8% contraction in its GDP in 2020, mostly due to COVID-19-related trade restrictions, Botswana’s GDP is expected to average around 5,5% in 2022 as the country recovers from the pandemic.

With over 80% of its rural population employed in agriculture, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the government of Botswana believes that the sector is a key component to economic growth in the country. However, Botswana remains a net importer of food, despite various government programmes that aim to improve agricultural productivity.

There are many reasons for this, including a dire lack of infrastructure, such as roads and Internet connectivity, as well as the high cost of inputs, amongst others. The country’s low rainfall is also a major barrier to production. While there is a lot of land in Botswana, most of this is unreachable, far from markets or unable to be cultivated. Thus, farmers have to be particularly careful about where and what they farm.

Regardless of these challenges, the articles in this supplement show how innovative farmers can make a success of agriculture in Botswana. Farmer’s Weekly spoke to small-scale, emerging and commercial farmers in that country, and while the scale of their operations may differ greatly, they have many things in common: they are all equally passionate about their work as agriculturalists; they show great tenacity and perseverance; and they are determined to grow their farming enterprises, despite the many hurdles they face.

With farmers as passionate at these, the Botswanan government has a relatively easy task at hand to expand agriculture: develop infrastructure, improve connectivity, and ease the process of doing business. The farmers will do the rest.

I have no doubt that the more Farmer’s Weekly expands its footprint into Africa, the bigger my list of the world’s most hard-working and innovative people will become. After all, farming in Africa is not for the faint of heart.

Janine

John Deere’s flexible financing solutions

Agriculture is currently one of the most dynamic business sectors in subSaharan Africa. The region’s expected economic growth rate, coupled with the rise of the middle class in sub-Saharan Africa, and the continent’s untapped agricultural potential, present role players in the sector with enormous economic opportunities.

At the same time, access to credit is a source of concern to many modern agribusinesses.

John Deere Financial is standing by to help farmers overcome this obstacle, and therefore supports its clients with quick and easy credit processes for the financing of any new John Deere equipment.

BELOW:

When considering a financial package, John Deere Financial‘s experts don‘t merely look at your balance sheet; they take the entire production value of your farm into consideration. In short, they see your potential.

SUPPLIED

John Deere Financial’s agricultural asset finance packages are structured according to farmers’ specific circumstances and mechanisation requirements. A unique finance option is available for any new farming equipment, subject to purchase at an authorised John Deere dealer.

KEY BENEFITS TO THE FARMER

Some key benefits include:

• Convenient and flexible repayment structures

John Deere Financial is familiar with the cyclical

nature of agriculture, and knows that cash flow is the lifeblood of a business. Its finance packages are structured to support a healthy cash flow to promote the growth of an agricultural operation.

• Customised solutions for farmers

John Deere prides itself on not merely selling products, but offering customised solutions to help farmers achieve the highest possible level of efficiency. When John Deere Financial structures a finance package, they go further than looking at a farmer’s balance sheet; they consider the production value of the farm as a whole.

• Access to a dedicated relationship banker

Few business owners have the time to queue in a bank, or be sent from pillar to post. With John Deere Financial’s finance packages, every farmer is assigned to a dedicated relationship banker who focuses on his or her specific banking needs. This allows farmers to direct their attention, energy and time to what they do best: producing food!

• Flexible lending periods

Flexibility in terms of the lending period translates into affordability. A relationship manager can supply detailed information on the most advantageous structuring of instalments.

• Competitive interest rates on all new John Deere equipment

John Deere Financial aspires to offer its customers highly competitive interest rates on asset finance.

• Product support

Because John Deere is committed to the highest levels of support to farmers, it provides ongoing training to its technicians through its dealer network to ensure continued aftersales support to our customers.

Contact your nearest John Deere financial marketer or dealer for more information on John Deere Financial’ s custom-made financial packages, and gain a reliable and committed progress partner.

Visit deere.com/sub-saharan, or email africa@johndeere.com. Phone 0800 983 821.

John Deere Financial’ s agricultural asset finance packages are created with each farmer’s unique situation and cash flow requirements in mind. This frees up producers to get on with their core business of farming.

FAST FACTS

Francisco Kgoboko started farming beef cattle in 2008. With no prior experience, he relied on the advice of extension officers. He initially farmed Tswana/ Simmentaler-type cattle, but has since introduced Brahman and Charolais genetics into his herd.

His farm is situated on the boundary of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and for this reason predation by lions, leopards and wild dogs is a constant threat.

Setting up a cattle farm in central Botswana

Francisco Kgoboko, who runs livestock in Botswana on the border of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, says the costs of establishing a farm in this part of the country can be prohibitive without access to sufficient financing. He spoke to Denene Erasmus about his challenges and successes.

Francisco Kgoboko’s story is one that will inspire any person growing up in the poor rural areas of Botswana. It is also a testament to how a good education can change the course of a person’s life. Botswana has a population of about 2,3 million people, roughly one-third of whom live in rural areas. Many of these people live in extreme poverty, as defined by the World Bank. Nonetheless, the country has made significant strides in reducing poverty. According to the World Bank, the share of the population living on less than US$1,90/day (about R27/day) at the 2011 purchasing power parity declined steadily from 29,8% to 18,2% between 2002/03 and 2009/10, and to 16,1% in 2015/16. This rapid reduction in poverty can be

attributed mainly to a combination of increasing agricultural incomes, including subsidies.

Although farming has changed Kgoboko’s life, his journey towards a better future for himself and his family was powered by education. As he tells it, he was the seventh of 13 children born to parents who ran a church in Mabolwe village near Bobonong in the central district of Botswana.

“I come from a less privileged family, but I did well in school and earned a government bursary to study chemical engineering at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.”

After completing his studies, he worked in diamond, copper and nickel mines in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Having grown up in a rural area, however, he always had a passion for agriculture. “I knew I wanted to farm, but didn’t know how to start.”

In 2007, while working at Orapa Diamond Mine, he met a woman whose father, a farmer, had recently died and left his cattle to his children.

“She wanted to sell her animals and I offered to buy the lot. It was a herd of 35 cattle with calves, and she gave me three months to collect them.” And so began Kgoboko’s journey in agriculture.

FINDING A PLACE TO FARM

In his search for suitable land, he came across a syndicate that owned land in the Boteti 4B Ranches area of central Botswana. The property was unfenced, and although there was a borehole, it was not in working order.

“We had no formal agreement, but I got the borehole working and built reservoirs and kraals. Because the area is so sandy, I had to rent 4x4 trucks to transport the cattle to the farm.

“I had no experience in farming, so I relied a lot on the advice provided by extension officers. I also didn’t have any of the right equipment. I soon realised that I’d need to buy a Land Cruiser if I wanted to farm in this part of the country.”

At that stage, Kgoboko still had a permanent position at the Orapa mine, which meant that he also needed to employ a full-time manager to look after the cattle.

“I went to an auction and bought two second-hand Land Cruisers, so that my farm manager and I could have a way of travelling to and from the farm,” he recalls.

He gradually built up the herd by buying cattle from other people who also worked at the mine. “I had about 150 Tswana/ Simmentaler-type cattle by the end of 2008, but still didn’t have any good bulls.”

By 2009, Kgoboko was established enough to start building his herd in earnest, so he travelled to South Africa and bought six Brahman bulls from a stud breeder.

“I decided to include more Brahman genetics in my commercial crossbreeding programme because the Tswana/Simmentaler-

OPPOSITE PAGE: Francisco Kgoboko, who lives and works in Botswana‘s capital, Gaborone, says spending time on the farm is therapeutic.

PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

ABOVE: Kgoboko‘s main focus is beef cattle production, but he also farms sheep and Kalahari Red goats.

LEFT: The animals are kraaled at night to keep them safe from predators.

BELOW: The commercial cattle herd comprises predominantly Brahman-type cattle, with some Simmentaler and Charolais genetics.

ABOVE:

Kgoboko brought in Charolais genetics to increase carcass weight.

ABOVE RIGHT:

The 3 600ha farm can sustainably carry about 350 cattle.

type cattle struggled on the veld at the end of winter, before the start of the summer rain, and they wouldn’t walk as far as the Brahman-type cattle did to find grazing.”

Towards the end of that year, his herd had grown to 200 animals, and the borehole on the farm was no longer able to sustain his herd and the animals belonging to the people who owned the land.

ESTABLISHMENT COSTS

In 2010, Kgoboko and his wife received their own farm, a 3 600ha property located on the eastern boundary of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. They rent it via a 99-year lease with the state.

The farm required a major investment in infrastructure, but Kgoboko tackled this over an extended period as he was reluctant to take on too much debt.

“I bought three 4x4 trucks at an auction and, after repairing them, we started transporting the material we needed to the farm,” he says.

Land procured through a lease agreement with the state might be affordable, says Kgoboko, but developing it for farming is very expensive.

“The cost of developing infrastructure is so prohibitive that you need access to sufficient financing, coupled with a lot of patience.”

Communication can also be a problem in deep rural areas, and Kgoboko had to invest in satellite Wi-Fi so that he could communicate with his workers during the week.

“I had to take out a loan to buy the fencing material we needed to establish camps and kraals, but to get the loan, I first had to drill a borehole!” he recalls.

After the kraals were built, he started moving his cattle to the new farm. At the same time, he continued to buy in more Brahman genetics to transform his herd into predominantly Brahman-type cattle.

“After a while, I also started bringing in Charolais bulls because I wanted to add some weight to the weaners,” he says.

Kgoboko continued crossbreeding Brahman and Charolais cattle for weaner production, and now runs small pure Brahman and pure Charolais herds, as well as a three-way, crossbred commercial herd with Simmentaler, Brahman and Charolais genetics.

“I can sustainably keep about 350 cattle on the farm, but when we use cattle to clear the veld around the perimeter of the game reserve to create firebreaks, we can push the carrying capacity to 500 head,” he explains.

‘I HAD NO EXPERIENCE IN FARMING, SO I RELIED A LOT ON THE ADVICE PROVIDED BY EXTENSION OFFICERS’

a

The calving season runs from September to December, when the veld has recovered after winter, and calves are weaned at seven months.

Weaners are marketed off the veld at 12 to 18 months when they weigh about 400kg.

The animals receive no supplementary feeding, apart from a dicalcium phosphate supplement, and breeding bulls receive 10kg of fodder per day.

Kgoboko markets about 100 weaners or oxen a year, as well as 50 to 100 female production animals. He sells mainly to private feedlots that export to South Africa, and receives between BWP8 000 (about R10 800) and BWP9 000 (R12 100) per ox (up to two-tooth).

DIVERSIFICATION AND CHALLENGES

Kgoboko has diversified his farming operation by including small stock such as a Kalahari Red goat stud, an SA Mutton Merino sheep stud, and Dorper-Damara sheep.

“I started farming Kalahari Reds in 2009 and demand for the breed has only grown stronger since then.”

He explains that many game farmers in South Africa and Botswana are diversifying by adding Kalahari Reds to their operations, which has increased demand.

One of Kgoboko’s greatest challenges stems from the farm’s location on the border of a game reserve: predation by lions, leopards and wild dogs is an ever-present danger.

“The animals have to be kraaled at night, and we keep the cows and ewes in the kraals during the day when they are about to calve or lamb,” he says.

According to Kgoboko, the Botswana government offers compensation for animals lost due to predation, but the value of this is far below the cost of replacing the animals.

A farmer receives about BWP1 500 (R2 030) per cow, BWP5 000 (R6 800) per bull and BWP150 (R200) for a sheep lost to predation.

Today, Kgoboko lives with his family in Gaborone. In addition to farming, he runs an engineering consultancy in mining, drilling and blasting, and is also in the explosives and mining equipment businesses.

His farm is 365km away from his home, and only 200km of the road is tarred; the balance consists of deep sand, which makes for slow, difficult driving.

However, he makes the 10- to 12-hour round trip almost every weekend.

Despite this arduous journey, the high cost of setting up the farm, and ongoing challenges such as predation, Kgoboko has never regretted his decision to start farming.

“It has a therapeutic effect that’s hard to explain,” he says. Email Francisco Kgoboko at francisco@fmkglobalholdings.co.bw. FW

ABOVE:

Kgoboko says the ability of Kalahari Red goats to thrive in tough and dangerous conditions makes them a perfect fit for his farm. Ewes have a strong mothering instinct and protect their kids against predators.

Modernising communal farming in Molepolole

Bantsi Regoeng, a crop, beef and dairy farmer from Molepolole in Botswana, is on a mission to commercialise his family’s farming business by boosting soil health, introducing mechanisation, and improving the quality of his cattle. He spoke to Denene Erasmus.

There are many similarities between Bantsi Regoeng, who is just 24, and young, energetic and ambitious farmers in South Africa. And they probably share these similarities with young farmers across sub-Saharan Africa. The first and most frustrating likeness is that their desire to grow their businesses is thwarted by the difficulties they face in accessing land and financing.

Most land for farming in Botswana is owned by the state, and citizens who wish to farm can apply for access to land via cheap 99-year lease agreements that give lessees tenure and usage rights. These leases are so secure that banks recognise them as collateral for loans, and they are also tradeable.

However, as many young farmers like Regoeng can confirm, the system is not always fair, and it can take a long time for a land application to be honoured. One of the conditions of these leases is that farmers have to utilise and develop the land within a reasonable amount of time. But because of the high cost of developing land in Botswana, there are often no roads or infrastructure such as boreholes and fencing, and the cost of clearing the land can be prohibitive for a new farmer.

Regoeng applied for land in January 2021, and says that he will probably have to wait another year before he receives a farm. “The state tries to give priority to the youth, and applications for land usually take around five years,” he says.

For a young farmer with few resources, getting access to financing can be difficult, but Regoeng says the government tries to help through implementing programmes that support arable farming. For example, farmers can obtain subsidised seed and fertiliser.

In the meantime, Regoeng and his sister Lillian are working on building their farming business on family land on a farm in a

‘WE CAN NO LONGER FARM AS OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS DID; WE HAVE TO COMMERCIALISE’

communal area that has belonged to them for about 20 years via a lease agreement.

CHANGING THE OLD WAYS

Kapadilalelo farm is situated alongside a sandy road about 15km from Molepolole.

Approximately half of the 60ha farm is arable and the rest is used for grazing. The Regoengs rent an additional 25ha from another farmer to use as extra grazing for their Brahman-type commercial cattle. They grow maize to produce green mealies, maize and feed for the cattle.

Regoeng began helping out on the farm when he was just 12, and now that he is starting to take on more responsibility, he hopes to bring some changes to the traditional way of doing things.

“We have to realise that we can no longer farm as our parents and grandparents did in the old days. We have to commercialise and adopt smart farming techniques. Times are tough and the old ways will not help you succeed,” he says.

One of the ways in which Regoeng is modernising the family business is by bringing in more mechanisation. This is a crucial intervention, he says, as it is difficult to find skilled labour, despite Botswana’s unemployment rate of around 20%. Nevertheless, he hopes to grow the business so that he can employ at least 30 people from the community.

CATTLE PRODUCTION

The farm’s livestock component includes cattle, sheep and goats, with the first being the main focus. The herd consists of 70 female breeding animals that are predominantly Brahman or Brahman-type, but Regoeng recently started crossbreeding with Braunvieh. He has three Brahman bulls, of which one is a stud animal, and two Braunvieh bulls. By introducing the Braunvieh genetics, he hopes to diversify into milk production in future, as there is a healthy demand for fresh milk in his community.

He has already started producing fresh milk during the summer months, when there is ample food for the animals on the veld, but he believes an opportunity exists to grow this aspect of the business.

Weaners are marketed to both the Botswana Meat Commission and private feedlots. Regoeng says he tries to raise and finish some cattle on the farm so that he can market animals directly to abattoirs, but he doesn’t always have access to enough feed to achieve this. One of his plans for the future is to set up his own feedlot.

“We also sell young bulls that have been selected for breeding. There is a high demand for quality bulls,” he says.

The calves receive supplementary feed from 90 days old to give the cows time to recover before producing more calves. From November to April, when the veld is in good condition, the animals can get most of their nutrition through grazing, but during winter, the veld becomes almost entirely depleted and Regoeng is forced to provide feed.

He mixes his own feed on the farm using maize cobs that his family produces, maize stover, sugar beans (also grown on the farm), and a protein concentrate.

When weaners weigh between 180kg and 200kg, Regoeng feeds them a high-protein finisher feed for about three months until they weigh 250kg to 320kg, and they are

OPPOSITE PAGE: Lack of grazing in winter means that animals must be provided with feed.

BELOW: Bantsi Regoeng farms beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats and crops in Molepolole in Botswana.

PHOTOS: DENENE ERASMUS

then marketed to feedlots or abattoirs. Regoeng says he has learnt that timing is everything in cattle farming.

“You have to make the right decisions at the right time. This includes knowing when to start feeding the animals, when to put the bulls in with the female animals, and when to vaccinate.”

He has learnt the hard way that missing the window of opportunity to administer vaccines or provide the correct supplemental feeding can lead to expensive stock losses.

The animals are dipped every four weeks to control ectoparasites. A high tick load can cause heartwater, and these parasites can also cause serious damage to the cows’ teats.

FAST FACTS

Even though most agricultural land in Botswana is owned by the state, gaining access to land via a long-term lease agreement can take a long time.

According to Bantsi Regoeng, communal farmers in Botswana need to adopt modern farming techniques if they want to grow their operations.

To expand his family’s farming business, Regoeng has focused on diversification by planting more crops and introducing dairy cattle to establish a dual-purpose herd that can produce both beef and milk.

RIGHT:

To improve the quality of his breeding herd, Regoeng selects strictly, focusing on structural soundness, temperament and growth performance.

BELOW: Regoeng keeps Dorpertype sheep and Boer goat-type goats for meat production.

BOTTOM:

The commercial beef herd consists predominantly of Brahman and Brahman-type female animals, and Brahman and Braunvieh bulls.

FOCUSING ON QUALITY

“We have a small farm, and because space is limited, we don’t have the option of expanding the herd by much. Instead, we have to focus on improving the quality of our animals. If we breed higher-quality animals, we can achieve better prices.”

His ultimate aim is to become a stud farmer.

To improve the quality of the breeding herd, Regoeng selects strictly, focusing on structural soundness, temperament and growth performance. For the bulls, this means that the animals must have a good sheath, good length and a medium frame. Female animals are judged according to udder and teat development and quality; they also have to be good milk producers and have strong mothering instincts.

Heifers produce their first calves when they are about three years old and after that they are expected to produce a calf every year.

Regoeng hopes to further diversify the farm by adding vegetables to the arable division of the business. “We have a borehole on the farm, so we can irrigate,” he says.

In his quest to commercialise the business, he is introducing conservation farming techniques for crop production.

“We have to improve the health of the soil, and to do this, there must be as little disturbance to the soil as possible.”

The family also keeps Dorper-type sheep and Boer goat-type goats for meat production.

Regoeng greatly admires South African farmers, and says that producers in other African countries need to learn from the ways in which South Africans maximise production per hectare.

“As young farmers, we have to learn to put in the hard work and be more resilient. Farming is a tough career, but if you have the ambition for it and put in all your effort, you can make a success of it.”

However, he says, he has also learnt that theory and practice don’t always overlap in farming, and the best way to learn is by doing.

Email Bantsi Regoeng at bantsiregoeng76@gmail.com. FW

‘YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS AT THE RIGHT TIME. THIS INCLUDES KNOWING WHEN TO START FEEDING THE ANIMALS AND WHEN TO VACCINATE’

Overcoming challenges to produce topquality beef

JS Beef, a Botswana-based integrated beef farming, feedlotting and marketing business, provides an essential market to a diverse range of primary cattle producers. Jannie Strumpher Jr, who runs the business with his father, spoke to Denene Erasmus about how they manage their beef farming enterprise in a drought-prone country with strict government regulations on exports.

After crossing the Skilpadshek border post from South Africa into Botswana, you hardly have time to change to fifth gear before you reach the turn-off to the JS Beef feedlot near Lobatse. The business, owned by the Strumpher family, has been able to capitalise on its location by exporting live cattle to abattoirs in South Africa ever since the Botswana government temporarily lifted a ban on the export of these animals.

(The longstanding ban was instituted in a bid to increase the size of the national herd and to boost the export of meat, a value-added commodity, rather than live animals.)

Although JS Beef bought the feedlot two years ago, the family has been involved in farming in Botswana for many decades. The business now comprises two feedlots, one in Lobatse and another in Sekoma, which can accommodate 3 500 and 1 000 animals respectively, as well as commercial beef cattle operations near Bray in the Kgalagadi District, in the Kalahari Sandveld, and in Sekoma. They also background beef cattle on the veld.

FEEDLOT OPERATION

Jannie Strumpher Jr, who runs the business with his father, says they are flexible about the age and weight at which they buy in cattle for backgrounding or for the feedlots. Their suppliers include commercial and smallholder producers across Botswana, and about a third of the animals in the feedlots come from their own farms.

Generally, they take in weaners that are older than six months and weigh around 280kg, but they also buy animals that weigh less than that, and then background them on the veld before taking them to the feedlot.

“The cattle that are backgrounded are also fed a feedlot ration, and they have access to a lick to prepare them for the feedlot and help them grow faster,” says Strumpher.

The feed mix for backgrounding and in the feedlots consists of wheat straw, oat hay and teff for roughage, all of which are imported from South Africa, as well as chop with molasses and a feedlot concentrate.

One of their challenges is sourcing the inputs for the feed mix: these sometimes have to be

transported over vast distances, which adds to the cost. However, according to Strumpher, there is potential to grow the feed industry in Botswana, and it would be to their benefit if they could source more feed ingredients from local suppliers.

The animals receive a daily ration equal to 3,2% of their body weight, and Strumpher says that they aim to achieve an average daily gain of 1,7kg in the feedlot.

“It’s against the law in Botswana to add any growth hormones to feed. At JS Beef, we set a strict limitation on the number of days that we feed the cattle,” he explains.

The Strumphers feed the animals for 100 to 120 days, and aim for a carcass weight of 250kg.

The feedlots operate on a three-month cycle: between 400 and 600 cattle arrive each week, and they are marketed about three months later.

HEALTH

Animal health is managed strictly in the feedlots, and the cattle are constantly monitored. Any animal that shows signs of being unwell is immediately separated from the rest and treated.

FAST FACTS

The JS Beef business includes commercial beef cattle farming in various locations in Botswana, two cattle feedlots, and beef cattle backgrounding.

One of the biggest challenges of running a feedlotting business in Botswana is the lack of locally produced feed.

Over the past two years, farmers in Botswana have been able to benefit from a temporary lifting of a governmentimposed ban on live cattle exports.

ABOVE LEFT: Beef producers in Botswana are prohibited from giving their cattle any growth hormones. SUPPLIED

ABOVE: Jannie Strumpher Jr runs the family‘s cattle farming and feedlotting business, JS Beef, with his father.

PHOTOS: DENENE ERASMUS

ABOVE:

JS Beef‘s feedlot in Lobatse can accommodate up to 3 500 head of cattle.

ABOVE RIGHT:

Animal health is managed strictly in the feedlots, and the cattle are monitored constantly for any signs of illness.

All animals are processed when they are brought into the feedlots, and this includes treatment for internal and external parasites, the One Shot vaccine for the prevention of bovine pneumonia, and a dosage of Supavax for protection against anthrax, botulism and blackleg.

CATTLE FARMING

For JS Beef’s commercial operation, Brahman and Simmentaler bulls are crossbred with Simbra-type cows.

“We run a single calving season,” says Strumpher. “The bulls spend three months with the cows, and we maintain a bull-tocow ratio of 1:25. Heifers are bred for the first time when they weigh about 320kg, and they usually produce their first calves when they are 27 months old. After that, they have to produce a calf every year.”

Calves are weaned at between seven and eight months when they weigh between 200kg and 240kg. They are then backgrounded until they reach 280kg, and from there are sent to the feedlots.

BEEF EXPORTS

The slaughter cattle are marketed directly to abattoirs in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. While JS Beef is not currently marketed through the state-owned Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), they hope that this will resume again before too long.

“Apart from our exports to South Africa (for the time being), beef can only be exported through the BMC, so

we’re only exporting to South Africa right now,” explains Strumpher.

Approximately a third of the slaughter cattle are marketed in Botswana, while the remaining 66% are exported live to abattoirs in South Africa.

Before the end of 2019, BMC was the sole entity for exporting beef. It was then announced that beef exports would be open for farmers.

A letter from the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security was issued on 8 November 2021 stating that the dispensation on live cattle being exported woud be extended to 31 December 2023.

“We market where we can get the best price,” says Strumpher. “Being able to export live cattle to South Africa has really helped our business, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the drop in tourism affected the demand for beef in Botswana. We’re also still recovering from a period of drought, and it has helped a lot that we can export to South Africa.”

Strumpher says they can only hope that the border will remain open for live cattle exports for the foreseeable future.

Email Jannie Strumpher Jr at strumpher.jan@gmail.com. FW

‘WE CAN ONLY HOPE THAT THE BORDER WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR LIVE CATTLE EXPORTS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE’

Botswana holds great potential for investors

Botswana is an African success story, with its history of a stable multi-party democracy, economic growth, a good human rights record, and a lack of corruption.

This landlocked Southern African country is topographically flat, and up to 70% of its territory is comprised of the Kalahari Desert.

With just over 2,3 million people, it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

Formerly one of the world’s poorest countries, with a per capita GDP of around US$70/year (about R7 320/year) in the late 1960s, Botswana has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Botswana’s economy is dominated by mining, cattle farming, and tourism.

As of 2021, it has a GDP purchasing power parity per capita of about US$18 113 (R270 430), one of the highest in Africa. Botswana is a member of the African Union,

Botswana’s growing energy industry has tremendous potential. However, almost all of its electricity is generated from coal, of which it has a very rich reserve.

Recently, it has taken an interest in renewable energy sources and has completed a comprehensive strategy that may attract investors in this sector.

An array of financial institutions populates Botswana’s financial system, with pension funds and commercial banks being the two most important segments by asset size.

Banks remain profitable, well-capitalised and liquid, as a result of growing national resources. The Bank of Botswana serves as the country’s central bank, and Botswana’s banking system is considered one of the most advanced in Africa. The country’s currency is the pula.

ABOVE: The government of Botswana wants to attract private-sector investment into the country‘s commercial agriculture sector to improve food security and diversify its economy.

PHOTOS: FW ARCHIVE

While Botswana’s commercial agriculture sector is still relatively young, the country’s solid democracy and economic prosperity make this an industry worth investing in. Thomas Harvey of Absa Botswana reports.

the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations.

Livestock, crops and fish

While agriculture comprises only 2% of Botswana’s GDP, it is vital to the livelihoods of many citizens who operate subsistence farms. Livestock production, especially cattle, contributes roughly 80% to the agricultural GDP. (This contribution to GDP excludes downstream and upstream activities.)

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has made a conscious effort to build resilience in food supply chains and reliable domestic production to help improve food security and self-sufficiency.

It is developing an incentive package to attract investors and boost commercial viability in the sector. Focus areas include small-stock and pig farming, poultry production, dairy production, beekeeping, horticulture, and aquaculture.

Livestock production exceeds domestic demand, and the EU is one region to which Botswana exports range-fed beef.

The development of a modern cattle farming and slaughter industry, and the corresponding development of a market for US feed stocks, ingredients, and technology, has been mostly limited by the government’s monopoly on meat-processing plants, exports, and livestock prices, as well as outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, especially in the north-eastern part of the country.

The government of Botswana is also seeking new market opportunities abroad, with particular interest in the Middle East market, and the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre is currently working on a strategy to export beef to the US. In addition, the government has now opened its borders for the export of live cattle to feedlots in South Africa and Namibia, and recently also allowed the export of meat to South Africa.

Crop farming in Botswana is dominated by grains, but is limited by issues such as constrained productivity and unreliable water supply, as well as the fact that 70% of the country’s landscape consists of desert and poor soils.

In 2017, national grain production totalled 20 985t, while the country produced 2 348t of beans, 145t of groundnuts, and 78t of sunflower in the same year. The top three grains produced in the country are sorghum, maize and millet. The Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board is the major player in ensuring food security for the country and manages the Strategic Grain Reserve.

Botswanans consume about 4 000t of fish per year, but only 300t are produced locally, with the rest imported from neighbouring countries.

Efforts to augment fish production through aquaculture, such as constructing fish hatcheries to supply fish seed to overfished reservoirs, are being explored, and may provide a niche market for incoming investors.

The sector also supplies raw materials for other agro-processing industries, such as meat processing, tanning, milling and brewing, as well as oil and soap production.

production areas

The main production regions in Botswana are:

• Ghanzi, where there are big horticultural and cattle production concerns;

• Molopo, with cattle farms of up to 120 000ha for some individual farmers. Some of the biggest feedlot owners are also from this area and export to South Africa;

• Mosisedi is known for maize and soya production as well as livestock farming;

• Gaborone, where the biggest subsector is broilers and egg production, with smaller horticulture farms around the city;

• Tuli Block, which is a major vegetableproduction area combined with game and cattle farming, and agritourism. Citrus is also produced here;

• Sandveld, where extensive livestock farming takes place;

• Francistown, which has big hatcheries that produce day-old chicks for most of Botswana. There is also some horticulture and animal production here; and

• Pandamatenga, a crop-production area of 50 000ha dryland. The main crops grown here are sorghum, maize, millet, dry beans and cowpeas. Small-scale coffee production also started here four years ago.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

Being a landlocked, semi-arid country, Botswana is not self-sufficient in food security, and therefore depends on imports, mainly from South Africa. South Africa also needs the Botswana market to ensure offtake agreements for some of its exports.

The value of exports from Botswana to South Africa totalled US$569 million (R8,3 billion) in 2020, of which 7% was live cattle and frozen meat. From 1 October 2020 up to 22 January 2021, a total of 47 135 live cattle were exported, of which 99,2% went to South Africa.

Over the past year, Botswana exported cattle worth a total value of almost one billion pula (R1,27 billion).

The Botswana government has identified agriculture as an area of strategic importance. However, the commercial agriculture sector in Botswana is still emerging and is in a quick-development phase, which means that Botswana still has to develop its primary and secondary industries. In this regard, Botswana’s government is looking to attract private-sector investment to grow the country’s commercial agriculture sector in order to create employment opportunities for its people, promote food security, and diversify its economy.

It also recently took a long-term decision to restrict the importation of selected vegetable commodities, effective 1 January 2022, including tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, garlic, onions, ginger, turmeric, butternut, watermelons, sweet peppers, and fresh herbs. This decision will be reviewed seasonally in periodic intervals of two years. This will encourage more local production to support food security and lower dependency on imports.

While this is a positive step towards protecting local farmers, it might cause shortages of certain commodities for a brief period of time.

The total value of all imports to Botswana in 2020 amounted to US$6,5 billion (R97 billion). Other agricultural imports from South Africa include fertilisers to the value of US$24,9 million (R372 million) in 2020, up 30% from 2019.

The steep increase in fertiliser imports could be an indicator of the fast growth in commercial horticulture and crop production.

The bulk of commodities, such as dairy and dairy products, pork, fish and mutton is also imported from South Africa.

The value of tractors imported into Botswana was US$17,1 million (R2,5 billion) in 2020, which was a 11,8% decline yearon-year. This was likely due to COVID-19 lockdowns and trade restrictions.

CHALLENGES

Botswana’s commercial farmers still face many challenges, such as the high cost of inputs, a lack of storage facilities in order to market commodities outside of season, and long distances between production areas and Gaborone, where the main off-take is based. Many areas also do not have access to electricity.

The agriculture sector isn’t represented by an organised unit such as Agri SA (in South Africa), which can negotiate with government on the behalf of farmers as a collective.

ABOVE LEFT:

The three main grain crops grown in Botswana are maize, sorghum and millet.

After a severe drought that lasted four years, most of Botswana received above-average rainfall over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

The country’s Department of Meteorological Services (DMS) forecasts normal to abovenormal rainfall for the 2021/22 cropping season over most parts of the country.

The DMS predicted that the first half of the season, which ran from October to December 2021, saw most parts of the country experiencing normal to above-normal rainfall, except the south-western district.

Temperatures for the first half of the season were also expected to be normal to above normal, according to the DMS.

It was more of the same for the second half of the rainfall season, which ran from January to March 2022, as most parts of the country received

THE GOVERNMENT HAS MADE A CONSCIOUS EFFORT TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS

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Absa AgriBusiness offers its clients financial services and loans to help them improve production and expand their operations.

normal to above-normal rainfall, while the northern parts received above-average rainfall.

Meanwhile, climate experts in Southern Africa anticipate that the SADC region would receive normal to above-normal rainfall in the 2021/22 cropping season.

The seasonal rainfall outlook is regarded as a critical planning tool that assists farmers to choose the right crops to plant.

Despite weather and infrastructure challenges, Botswana’s farmers have shown that they are consistently expanding their operations in order to remain in a position in which they have economies of scale to keep their businesses sustainable over the long term.

Over the past year, input costs have increased far more than commodity prices, and have thus created a cost squeeze that is forcing farmers to expand their operations and become more productive.

Farmers in Botswana are also keeping up with the latest technology to ensure that they implement the most effective farming practices.

ABSA AGRIBUSINESS

Absa Bank is one of the biggest role players in the financing of agriculture in Botswana and across Africa as a whole, and has vast experience in agricultural finance. It also has the support of 24 agricultural economists from Absa South Africa to assist with feasibility studies and risk assessments.

Absa AgriBusiness offers its clients innovative finance solutions. It prides itself on being a relationship bank, and has five

staff members dedicated to serving the Botswanan farming community exclusively.

Absa AgriBusiness offers a full bouquet of products to address all of its clients’ finance needs. It finances all commercial farmers and partners with them to become mega farmers, which will ensure that Botswana becomes more food-secure and less dependent on imports.

It also offers term loan finance for the purchasing of farms and breeding stock, as well as farm development. In addition, it provides commercial asset finance, working capital, production loans, agricultural insurance, Internet banking, invoice discounting, payment solutions for farmworkers, and much more.

In addition, Absa is involved in the finance of secondary agriculture, from both an input and a processing perspective. The bank frequently shares industry and economic information with its clients.

Absa AgriBusiness is also proud of its servicelevel agreement with John Deere Financial.

Absa AgriBusiness places a big focus on assisting small-scale farmers to expand their concerns into commercial operations in order to support the Botswana government’s aim of growing the rural economy and improving food security.

Phone Thomas Harvey, head of Absa AgriBusiness in Botswana, on +267 75 665 197; Valerie Molaodi, Absa AgriBusiness relationship manager, on +267 71 489 272; or Emmanuel Sedumedi, Absa AgriBusiness relationship manager, on +267 72 890 918.

JOHN DEERE

Realities in Africa –tough but lucrative

In 2007, Dr Koos Coetzee, then an agricultural economist at the Milk Producers’ Organisation, examined the difficulties faced by food producers wanting to do business in Africa.

The recent Congress of the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU SA) addressed the question of food security in an African reality. For TAU SA general manager Bennie van Zyl, this means a continent where good governance is almost nonexistent, promises are not kept and there is little regard for property rights.

The previous day, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Dirk du Toit had threatened to expropriate the farms of farmers who evicted workers, a good example of one African reality.

There is also the Zimbabwean reality, where farmers were illegally evicted from their farms and where, through mismanagement, the economy has become the laughing stock of the whole world, with the exception of South Africa, which still believes in silent diplomacy.

Then there is the reality that evicted Indian people from Zambia some years ago, the reality of presidents-for-life and unfair and unfree elections, lack of respect for property rights and strong racial

prejudice against [certain groups]. Yet another example is the reality of politicians and officials in dark suits, attending conferences and workshops in luxury hotels all over Africa. Even foreign visitors accept this reality, provided they keep their eyes closed on the way from the airport to the hotel.

While conferences adopt important resolutions, back home government’s wheels are coming off – literally, in many cases.

Africa is not a resource-poor continent. It has an abundance of natural resources and the potential to produce enough food for its population, plus a surplus to export to the rest of the world.

It is the world’s leading producer of gold and diamonds. Botswana is another major diamond producer and Nigeria sits on one of the largest oil reserves in the world. African politicians blame the lack of development on their colonial past, forgetting that New Zealand and even the US were also formerly European colonies.

Land reform is an important issue in Africa. But the transfer of land has in most cases resulted in the destruction of its productive capacity. The blame for this is placed at the door of the land’s former white owners. The Afro-optimists emphasise the development of different regional trade

blocks in Africa, the African Union (AU) and Nepad. True, there is some progress in political and economic integration. At the last count, more than 10 regional economic and political groups co-operated in the AU. However, if you look at the Customs Union, you find other member countries are willing to share in joint customs income but won’t accept the responsibilities of a customs union. Namibia closes its border with South Africa for maize imports while its has local maize available.

There is also a positive African economic reality, especially for South Africa. [Africa] has a population of 900 million; its economy grew by 5% in 2005 and by 5,5% in 2006.

Sub-Saharan Africa had its highest growth rate in 30 years during the past three years.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, African food imports amount to US$19 billion [about R135,5 billion] a year. Many African companies are already actively engaged in this market.

High-street Lusaka looks similar to highstreet [South Africa], with names such as Shoprite and MTN strongly in evidence. Companies that try to enter the market face many obstacles, the first of which is to get paid for goods.

The second is to ensure that the local government allows you to trade. Language, especially in the French- and Portuguesespeaking countries, is another problem. In most cases, countries demand that exporters get involved in the local economy. Parmalat Zambia is a good example of how this can be done successfully.

In spite of the obstacles, many South African companies do good business in the growing African market. There is a huge market for our agricultural products; it’s up to us to do something about it. While individual farmers can already enter this market, the real opportunities lie in co-operation between producers, processors and possibly the retail chains.

Prof Nick Vink of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University believes these chains will lead the trade revolution. Industries that don’t join forces with them may lose out on a very lucrative market. FW

This article first appeared in the 12 October 2007 issue of Farmer’s Weekly and has been edited to adhere to the current style of the magazine.

Africa has an abundance of natural resources and the potential to produce enough food for its population, says Dr Koos Coetzee. FW ARCHIVE

Why top carrot producer focuses on diversification

Jan Stiglingh and Manjo Krige-Stiglingh run a mixed farming operation, and are the biggest producers of carrots and beetroot in Botswana. By focusing on quality, diversification and added value, they have grown their business significantly and sustainably. Denene Erasmus reports.

FAST FACTS

Lucerne Fields farm is the largest producer of carrots and beetroot in Botswana.

The business has been diversified to include organic herbs, cover and fodder crops, commercial beef cattle and a stud.

Jan Stiglingh and Manjo KrigeStiglingh recently purchased the Limousin bull LR 18 087 ‘La Rhone Zippo’ for a South African record price of R900 000.

Botswana is not known for irrigated agriculture and, according to that country’s government, there are fewer than 1 500ha of crops under irrigation there. But even though the area under irrigation is small, the fresh produce farmers who are able to irrigate grow a significant share of the vegetables consumed in Botswana.

Lucerne Fields, established in 2007, is one such farm. Situated on the banks of the Limpopo River in the Tuli Block near Martin’s Drift border post, the farm grows vegetables on 280ha under centre pivot irrigation. The largest producer of carrots and beetroot in Botswana, it has a market share of 70% for carrots and 35% for beetroot, and also grows onions and organic herbs. The vegetables are planted in rotation with lucerne, maize, grasses and other cover crops that are used to produce silage and pasture for livestock.

FINDING A BALANCE

Lucerne Fields supplies vegetables to retailers across Botswana, but owners Jan Stiglingh and Manjo Krige-Stiglingh say that their ability to grow this side of their business is limited by the environment and local demand.

Certain months of the year are simply too hot for certain vegetable crops, and carrots and beetroot do not form part of the traditional staple diet of the Batswana people; these vegetables are usually only prepared as part of a special celebration. In addition to this, the country has a population of only about 2,3 million people.

These factors mean that Lucerne Fields has to limit supply or risk flooding the market.

“The market is so small that planting just 10ha or 20ha more could flood the market,” says Krige-Stiglingh.

The Tuli Block is one of only a few regions in Botswana where land can be held under

freehold, and Stiglingh is the second generation of his family to own the land.

“Most farms here are used for game ranching and livestock production. The area has good sandy loam soils and receives about 300mm to 350mm of rainfall per year [mostly during summer]. We’re also fortunate to have access to water for irrigation from boreholes and the Limpopo River,” says Stiglingh.

To improve the water-holding capacity of the soil, they plant cover crops between the carrots and beetroot production seasons. The cover crops are worked into the ground after being grazed by cattle. This also improves soil health and breaks pest and disease cycles.

“If we don’t rotate with fodder crops at least every second planting season, the nematode pressure in the soil builds up too much,” says Krige-Stiglingh. “Our nematode

problem can be attributed to the parasitecontaminated water and soil that runs into the Limpopo River and ends up on our land when we irrigate,” says Krige-Stiglingh.

VEGETABLE PRODUCTION

To ensure a consistent supply of carrots and beetroot, the vegetables are planted in batches every two weeks throughout the year. Total carrot and beetroot production usually comes to 120ha and 80ha respectively a year.

Planting can be challenging in summer, says Stiglingh, when the heat can delay or prevent germination. They therefore use hybrid seed to ensure uniform germination and plant growth.

Excessive rain may also prove a challenge: it can wash away the seeds or wash open the shoulders of the small carrots, which means the lands have to be replanted.

LEFT:

After being washed, polished and hydrocooled to 2°C, the carrots are graded on length and diameter before being packaged.

SUPPLIED

OPPOSITE PAGE:

Water management is a crucial aspect of carrot production. According to Stiglingh, water application must be managed in such a way that the carrots ’search‘ for water. This will ensure that they develop sufficient length.

Manjo Krige-Stiglingh (left) and Jan Stiglingh with one of their Limousin stud bulls.

PHOTOS: DENENE ERASMUS

ABOVE:

One of the reasons that Lucerne Fields diversified to include a livestock component was to reduce wastage in the vegetable division. Here, Limousin weaners are fed a portion of broken or damaged carrots as part of their daily ration.

SUPPLIED

ABOVE RIGHT:

According to Stiglingh, water usage in Botswana is currently not regulated by government, but this is likely to change in the future.

“We know how to handle drought, but there are no short-term solutions to extreme rainfall events,” says Stiglingh.

They experienced unusually high rainfall at the beginning of 2021 when heavy rain and run-off damaged some lands.

“We’ve started constructing swales in strategic areas to capture the run-off and spread it horizontally across the landscape to facilitate infiltration. We’re very excited about the results. So far, the swales have filled up twice already since mid-November,” says Krige-Stiglingh.

Carrots and beetroot are both planted via direct seeding using a precision planter, and a mortality rate of 15% to 17% is budgeted for. A plant stand of 850 000 to 900 000 carrots and 430 000 to 470 000 beetroot per hectare is usually achieved.

The carrots are harvested four to five months after planting, and the beetroot about three months after planting.

“Meticulous land preparation and irrigation management are extremely important when planting carrots,” says Stiglingh. “The seeds are planted in 300mm raised beds that have been cultivated using a rotovator. Water application must be managed in such a way that the carrots have to ‘search’ for water, which ensures that they develop sufficient length.”

The first 14 days after planting are crucial, and the seedbed must be kept moist during this time. Subsequently, irrigation can be reduced to every second day, but it is important to keep an eye on the condition of the plants and irrigate them as needed, he adds.

To reduce the environmental impact of their farming activities and improve soil health, they have started making their own compost and including more organic products in their pest- and disease-control programmes.

Some of the main pests and diseases they need to guard against are nematodes, cutworm,

Alternaria leaf blight, black spot and soft rot. Throughout the season they spray a nematicide as a preventative measure, and chemical and organic products to control cutworm. They use organic products to control Alternaria, and a copper spray to control soft rot. At planting, they apply Trichoderma fungi, which help improve the health and quality of the carrots. Harvesting is carried out mechanically using a specialised ASA-Lift carrot harvester.

RAPIDLY COOLED CARROTS

Lucerne Fields recently acquired and installed a world-class hydro-cooling plant, the only one of its kind in Botswana, which rapidly lowers the temperature of harvested carrots and beetroot.

Krige-Stiglingh says the process is essential for supplying fresh, high-quality and longer-lasting produce for transporting over long distances. It also significantly decreases post-harvest losses.

The vegetables are cooled rapidly to 2°C by immersing them in water at a temperature of 1°C. This process takes about 30 minutes, and after packaging, the vegetables are stored in cold rooms that maintain their temperature at 2°C

“We’re positive about the future of agriculture in Botswana, which is why we’re investing in the business. We also focus on improving the quality of our produce,” says Krige-Stiglingh.

CATTLE PRODUCTION

In 2014, the couple diversified their business to include cattle. Initially, they ran a commercial Brahman herd on a farm in Botswana’s Sandveld region, but this division has since grown to include a mixed cattle herd producing weaners on 13 000ha in the same region, and a Limousin stud on the farm in the Tuli Block.

“One reason we chose to bring in a cattle component was because there was a lot of waste from the vegetable farming [division], such as carrots breaking during the harvest. It’s too expensive to process damaged vegetables, but we didn’t want them to go to waste, so we decided to include cattle and feed the damaged produce to them, adding value to it,” says Stiglingh.

LEFT:

Krige-Stiglingh says that they have been impressed with the milk yield from the Limousin cows, as well as their calving ease and mothering ability.

SUPPLIED

Their choice of Limousin genetics was based on advice from South African Limousin breeder John Devonport, owner of the multiaward-winning Devlan Limousins stud.

“Brahman cattle are hardy and suitable for a harsh environment, but we wanted to increase the amount of meat produced per animal,” notes Stiglingh. “Limousin seemed like a good choice. At first, many people warned us that the Limousin wouldn’t adapt well to farming conditions in Botswana, but we’ve had very good results.”

They have since purchased Limousins from both Devonport and La Rhone Limousins, owned by the Du Toit family of Tulbagh. One of their most recent purchases was the bull LR 18 087 ‘La Rhone Zippo’, which they bought for a South African record price of R900 000.

37kg, and the calves are weaned at seven months, when they weigh about 225kg.

The stud animals receive additional feed and graze on planted pasture, such as the cover crops grown in rotation with the vegetables. The commercial herd receives no additional feed apart from a production lick and a winter lick. Commercial weaners are rounded off for the market at the on-farm feedlot in the Tuli Block until they reach a weight of about 450kg, at which point they are marketed.

Bulls are sold directly from the farm and at the Tuli Block Farmers’ Association’s annual auction in May. Stiglingh says they aim to market the bulls selected for breeding at between 28 and 36 months and, from 2023, they hope to hold their own production sale.

INPUT PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES

“Ever since we started breeding Limousins, we’ve discovered there’s a huge demand for these bulls in Botswana because of how effective they are at achieving a high slaughtering percentage due to fine bone structure, high muscling, and lean fat content,” says Stiglingh.

By running Brahman and Limousin in a terminal crossbreeding programme, they have seen dressing percentages increase from 56% to 60%. Their Limousin stud comprises approximately 100 breeding females and five bulls. The commercial herd consists of 700 to 800 female animals run under extensive conditions on the veld at a stocking rate of 1 MLU/15ha. For this herd, they maintain a bull-to-cow ratio of 1:25.

For the stud, the average birthweight for a calf is between 35kg and 50kg, and the average weaning weight at eight months is between 280kg and 310kg. In the commercial herd, birthweights are between 32kg and

One of their biggest challenges is accessing inputs and services. “Since manufacturing of chemicals doesn’t take place in Botswana due to the small horticulture and agronomic sector, we import most of our inputs from South Africa. When the borders closed due to COVID-19, our production was interrupted because we couldn’t get any inputs into Botswana from South Africa timeously. Fortunately, we can now access locally produced organic and organically-blended fertiliser products from [Organic Fertilizer Manufacturers Botswana]. We also don’t always have the luxury of having easy access to aftersales services. When a tractor breaks down it can sometimes take months before the part needed to get it running again arrives,” says Stiglingh.

While they do face challenges that South African farmers might not experience, they nonetheless enjoy a level of support from their government that farmers in South Africa do not. An example of this is the Botswana government closing the border for imports of agricultural products that are also produced in that country in sufficient volumes to meet local demand. Email Manjo and Jan Stiglingh at info@lucernefields.net. FW

‘WE ADD VALUE TO THE VEGETABLES BY FEEDING DAMAGED PRODUCE TO THE CATTLE’

Producing worldrenowned Brahman genetics

The Wayside Ranch and Brahman stud, run by three generations of the Munger family, is situated on the outskirts of Francistown in eastern Botswana. The family has been farming here for more than 100 years and has bred both red and grey Brahman cattle for about 40 years. Denene Erasmus learned more about the business from third-generation farmer Rowland Munger

The family used to make a living from transporting goods by ox-wagon between countries in Southern Africa. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, railway transport began to extend from South Africa to other parts of the continent, and the Mungers decided to settle in Botswana to farm.

After buying the land, the family settled on Wayside in 1912 and started farming dairy and commercial beef cattle. In the 1970s, Rowland Munger’s grandfather Keith, his father Rowland Sr (managing director) and his uncle Glen (in charge of the game farming and commercial cattle divisions) started breeding Brahman. Since there was no society for Brahman stud breeders in Botswana, they registered the Wayside stud in Zimbabwe and later, in the late 1980s, with SA Stud Book.

The Mungers currently run about 100 red and 100 grey Brahman cows in the stud. They also keep 300 commercial cows and up to 1 000 cattle in their on-farm feedlots.

The business includes a game farm (catering mostly to the local biltong hunting market), a poultry division for egg production, holiday chalets and a nine-hole golf course with 18 tee boxes.

GRAZING AND WATER SUPPLIES

The main railway line in Botswana runs through the south-eastern region of the country from Mahikeng in South Africa through Lobatse, Gaborone, Palapye and Francistown to Plumtree in Zimbabwe. About 17km from Francistown, one has to cross this line to get to Wayside Ranch, where the Munger family has been farming for more than a century. It was, in fact, this railway line that brought about the family’s decision to buy the land and settle here.

The stud animals are run on 2 500ha of land near Francistown and the commercial cattle on several properties totalling about 10 000ha. All the cattle are grazed extensively, as the rainfall is insufficient to enable pastures to be planted. Water from the 10 earth dams on the farm near Francistown is used for drinking water for the cattle and game.

The carrying capacity of the veld is usually about 1 MLU/10ha and the Mungers keep the stocking rate as close to this as possible. Animals receive a winter and summer lick.

“We irrigate a small area where we produce pasture for the cows that are used as embryo donors, but all other cattle have to survive off of the veld,” says Munger.

ABOVE: Rowland Munger (right) and his father, Rowland Munger Sr.

PHOTOS: DENENE ERASMUS

STUD BREEDING

The Mungers use artificial insemination (AI) to increase the genetic potential of their breeding herd and bulls. Apart from their own stud bulls, they use imported semen from South Africa and the US, such as from the well-known grey Manso Brahman bull BRC Dutton, bred by the BRC Brahman Ranch in the US. More recently, they also began making extensive use of embryo flushing using four donor cows and 100 cows that serve as recipients for the embryos.

Rainfall in the area averages 450mm a year; however, the past few years have been anything but average. Large parts of Botswana experienced a serious drought between 2017 and 2019, with only 200mm of rain falling on the farm in 2019, according to Munger. Fortunately, this was followed by considerably better rainfall of about 840mm in 2020.

Because of the drought, the herd has been thinned out over the past few years, and the Mungers are therefore trying to rebuild the breeding herd by retaining most of the female calves produced by the stud cows.

“We want to get the stud herds back up to 150 breeding female animals each,” says Munger. This is one of the reasons they have opted to make more use of the embryo transfer programme; it enables them to rebuild the herd by using their top animals more quickly than would have been possible with only AI and natural breeding.

Heifers are bred for the first time at 24 months. “Because of the extensive grazing conditions, we can’t start breeding them earlier. We have dense mopane bushveld that doesn’t offer a lot of grazing,” says Munger.

Their Brahmans, he adds, are hardy, adaptable, fertile and disease-resistant. They also require low levels of maintenance, which make them ideal for farming conditions in the parts of Botswana where they farm.

Unsurprisingly, they select for functional, economically efficient cattle that can handle themselves in this harsh environment. In terms of bull selection, the Mungers pay particular attention to the sheath structure, due to the high tick load in the environment.

They also select for above-average estimated breeding values for milk production and inter-calving period.

The average birthweight of calves is 31kg and the weaning weight at seven months (or 200 days) is between 250kg and 252kg. The first round of selection takes place at weaning.

Bulls are marketed when they are between two-and-a-half and three years old.

At their annual sale, the Mungers aim to market 20 bulls and 20 female animals.

Female animals are sold as open, in-calf or as in-calf with calf at foot (3-in-1).

COMMERCIAL HERD

Munger says that they introduced European genetics (Charolais, Simmentaler and Pinzgauer) to their pure Brahman commercial beef herd some years ago in an effort to achieve higher weaning weights. Unfortunately, they found that the crossbred animals struggled to perform in the extensive bushveld conditions.

“We don’t have a lot of grazing, so our animals really need to be hardy and resilient,” he explains.

They have since started taking the commercial herd back to being pure Brahman by running some of their stud bulls with the commercial female animals. Their use of these bulls has also helped to improve the milk production of the commercial female animals.

The commercial cow herd has been reduced from about 650 animals to 300 due to the drought, but they are rebuilding the herd, says Munger.

As the commercial herd is run extensively, it is impractical to weigh all calves at birth. They are therefore weighed only at weaning.

Weaner oxen are sent to the feedlot and heifer calves are used as replacement female animals in the commercial breeding herd.

All the animals are vaccinated annually against anthrax, botulism, blackleg and lumpy skin disease. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is another problem in Botswana, but one which Munger says is being well managed by the government.

“While there’s no vaccine for FMD [available in Botswana], we’re based in a green export zone, so we can export.

ABOVE:

According to Rowland Munger, they aim to achieve an average daily gain of 1,7kg in their on-farm feedlot.

FAST FACTS

The Munger family, owners of the wellknown Wayside Brahman stud, have been farming in Botswana since 1912.

Over the past three years they have been forced to decrease the size of their stud herds by more than a third due to a prolonged drought, but they are currently in a rebuilding phase.

A recent concession by the Botswana government to open up the country’s borders for live exports of cattle to South Africa and Namibia has supportd higher weaner prices. This has led to an increase in demand for breeding stock.

BELOW:

The Mungers use the full range of breeding practices for their cattle: natural breeding, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer using semen from their own herd as well as imported semen from the US and South Africa.

SUPPLIED

“Our government does a good job of managing the FMD situation in the country.

“We have red, orange and green FMD zones. Beef produced in the red areas cannot be exported to the EU, and the orange zones serve as buffers between the red and green. In the green zones, such as where we farm, there’s no FMD, so meat can be exported. We’re also able to export stud animals to neighbouring countries.”

FEEDLOT AND MARKETING

The Mungers run an on-farm feedlot, which is supplied from their own commercial herd as well as weaners bought in from other beef producers.

The feedlot cattle have an average daily gain of 1,7kg and are slaughtered at between 24 and 30 months, by which time they have reached a live weight of between 400kg and 450kg. This translates to an average carcass weight of about 200kg. According to Munger, the local demand for higher-quality premium beef has increased and they supply a number of retailers in Botswana directly.

In addition to being able to export live cattle to abattoirs and feedlots in South Africa, they are permitted to export beef via a few private abattoirs licensed for this. They can also export beef to the EU through the governmentowned Botswana Meat Commission (BMC).

According to Munger, demand for their stud animals has been on the increase, especially now with the border open for live exports to South Africa.

Due to this concession, weaner prices have nearly doubled in Botswana, he says.

“There’s still an opportunity to grow the farming sector in Botswana. We’re not yet food secure as a country and we can increase beef exports. Botswana produces some of the best beef in the world, but to really grow the industry, BMC has to be privatised so that farmers can earn better prices for their beef.” An amendment to the BMC Act to allow

for the privatisation of BMC has already been passed by parliament, but Munger says than even though the bill was adopted, little has been done to implement the amendment. Despite this regulatory hurdle, the family remains optimistic about the future of farming in Botswana.

“Were we not [optimisitc about farming in Botswana], we wouldn’t be investing in top genetics and the improvement of our herds through the embryo transfer programme,” adds Munger.

Phone Rowland Munger on +267 71 313 233, or email him at rkm@waysidebotswana.com. FW

‘OUR GOVERNMENT DOES A GOOD JOB MANAGING THE FOOTAND-MOUTH DISEASE SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY’

African countries need reliable, local data on sugar taxes

ABOVE: Sugar taxes have been implemented in several African countries, including Botswana.

Diets in sub-Saharan Africa are changing as more countries advance from low-income to middle-income status. People’s eating habits are shifting from foods rich in starchy staples, vegetables and fruits to a more Westernised diet high in sugar, saturated fats and oils.

This shift towards unhealthy foods is fuelling obesity-related chronic, non-communicable conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Preventive measures are more critical than ever to curtail this tsunami that is overwhelming health systems.

One area that must adjust is the food and beverage sector in sub-Saharan Africa. The processed-food industry is promoting the region as a growth market for its products.

To discourage consumption and reduce health risks, an increasing number of low- and middle-income countries have imposed taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks. Across the globe and especially in Latin America, taxing sugary drinks to reduce consumption has been effective.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on African governments to follow this example, and to ease the burden of non-communicable diseases.

According to Prof Karen Hofman, programme director for the South African Medical Research Council/ Wits University Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, and Agnes Erzse, a researcher at the centre, sugar taxes serve little purpose if they are not accompanied by reliable consumption data.

In 2015, a WHO panel of public health experts found that “appropriately designed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would result in proportional reductions in consumption, especially if aimed at raising the retail price by 20% or more”.

Some African countries, such as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, already tax sugary drinks, but others have been slow to act. The WHO attributes this, in part, to evidence gaps.

Thus, credible local data are essential to determine what taxes can and cannot achieve.

We wanted to get an understanding of what data are available to support the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a sugary-drinks tax. We focused on seven subSaharan African countries: Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. These economies are growing and their marketing industries are low-cost. Regulation of unhealthy commodities is also weak.

In combination, these factors represent a growth opportunity for the industry. However, they also fuel diet-related non-communicable diseases.

particularly across income levels and age groups. Our study highlights that such information is missing in all seven countries.

We looked at a range of publicly available data sources to establish the rate of sugary drinks consumption and the impact on people’s health.

We found that national survey data does not adequately track either the intake of sugarsweetened drinks, or household spending. Fiscal data is lacking regarding sugary drinks tax revenue, value-added tax from sugary beverage sales, and the corporate income tax and customs duty revenue.

Accurate information on the soft drinks industry was not easily accessed either. Unlike in countries such as Mexico, it was difficult to find information on a number of fronts. Data on the number of companies in industry sectors, beverage industry forecasts, drinks prices, package sizes, number of low- or no-calorie beverages, and sugar content were unavailable.

Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda had taxes on non-alcoholic beverages. However, only Zambia had a differential sugarsweetened beverages tax: 3% on imported beverages and 0,5% on local drinks. Botswana recently introduced a tax that is very similar to the health promotion levy in South Africa.

GOING FORWARD

Our research highlighted the urgent need for new indicators on unhealthy diets, including sugary drinks consumption and purchase patterns. Without this evidence, countries might underestimate the consumption figures. They might then miss the potential of sugar-sweetened drinks taxation as a public-health intervention.

RESEARCH

We interviewed stakeholders such as representatives from government agencies, including those in health, commerce, development, agriculture, education and academia. All individuals underscored the importance of local evidence on sugary drinks consumption and purchasing behaviours, as well as fiscal evidence to compare the cost and benefits of a tax. This is because policymakers need to take into account evidence for coherent economic arguments to discuss sugarsweetened drinks taxes in policy circles.

The potential health benefits, the revenue of such a tax, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of its implementation, require appropriate baseline data at the outset,

Timely, easily understood, concise, and locally relevant evidence is needed to inform policy development on sugary drinks. The relevant data are drawn from multiple sectors, therefore cross-sector collaboration is needed.

Indicators to measure sugar-sweetened drinks and added-sugar consumption should be developed. These must be included in current data-collection tools such as national income dynamics studies. This would ensure monitoring and evaluation of taxation.

There’s no consensus on how best to capture data for new indicators. But a useful point of departure would be to complement existing data sources. These include populationbased surveys that ask questions related to sugary drinks taxation. This would lead to improvement in tracking the intake of sweet drinks, and the effectiveness of taxation. Establishing robust, accurate baseline data to inform evidence could enable governments to accelerate political and public support for sugar-sweetened beverage taxation and related policies. Finally, greater transparency of industry data is essential.

• This article was originally published on The Conversation. To read the original article, visit bit.ly/36OWrt8. FW

FAST FACTS

To discourage the consumption of sugar, more and more low- and middle-income countries are placing taxes on sugary drinks.

Without the appropriate data on the consumption of sugary drinks, countries might miss out on the benefits of a sugar tax.

Easily understood and locally relevant evidence is needed to inform policy development on sugary drinks.

GREATER TRANSPARENCY OF INDUSTRY DATA IS ESSENTIAL WHEN IT COMES TO IMPOSING A TAX ON SUGARY DRINKS