Review of the Use of Artificial Insemination Services in Cattle Production in Botswana (2005 – 2010)

This paper reviewed artificial insemination (AI) services rendered at AI centres across Botswana over a five year period (2005 to 2010). The use of AI in cattle production in Botswana dates back to the mid-1960s. AI service in the country was mainly performed in beef production to improve herd quality in terms of improved growth rates. Since quality bulls were costly, the need for AI services, especially in smallholder livestock production was introduced, thus offering the smallholder farmers the opportunity to improve beef herd quality cheaply without the need to buy bulls. For the past five years, the 15 AI centres in the country together received on average 7283 cows for insemination per annum, representing 58.3% of the AI centres’ capacity of 12 500 cows. This indicated that the AI centres were most of the time under stocked and underutilized. Conception rates ranged from 41.3 to 87.8%. Sefophe and Nokaneng service centres had the highest and lowest conception rates, respectively. The participation of farmers in on-farm AI seemed to decline over time. The main constraints to AI services were lack of maintenance of fire breaks and perimeter fences due to inadequacy of funds, the inadequate supply and high cost of liquid nitrogen for transporting semen, shortage of qualified ranch managers and inadequate transport and staff accommodation among others. These present findings suggest that extension efforts should concentrate on encouraging maximum utilization of the AI services offered by the Ministry of Agriculture at subsidised prices

Critical review of the ostrich industry in Botswana

This review highlighted the performance of Botswana’s commercial ostrich industry. Botswana has the world’s largest population of wild ostriches, estimated to be approximately 75, 000. However, commercial ostrich production is still in its infancy despite the ideal climate and the existence of an ostrich abattoir, which was constructed by the government in 2002 to support the industry. The abattoir has the capacity to slaughter 20, 000 ostriches per year but has lacked throughput since its inception resulting in frequent closures that contributed to the collapse of majority of small-scale projects. The present review showed that the industry has not grown overtime. The major constraints in commercial ostrich production include inter alia, frequent closures of the abattoir, lack of access to credit and poor extension service. Despite these challenges, opportunities still exist including availability of market (locally and internationally) for ostrich meatand skins, as well as strong government support. To revive the industry, vertical integration (contract farming) and increased government support such as feed subsidies are suggested.Keywords: abattoir, Botswana, meat, ostrich, ratites, skin

Evaluation of Livestock Identification and Trace-Back System (LITS) in Three Villages of Kweneng District, Botswana

A study was conducted in Gamodubu, Lentsweletau and Kopong in Kweneng District to evaluate the performance of LITS and to ascertain whether it has enabled Botswana beef sector to meet traceability standards to secure EU market. Data were collected using a verbally guided questionnaire which was administered to 50 individual livestock keepers (Gamodubu - 10, Kopong – 15 and Lentsweletau - 25) and key informants (traditional leaders, police officers and extension agents). In addition, secondary sources of data were reviewed. Data on socio-economic characteristics (age, sex, educational level and marital status) of the respondents, factors affecting LITS implementation and role of extension services in LITS implementation were collected. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The current results showed that cattle breeds reared in the study area in order of preference are Brahman/Tswana cross (48%), Tswana (17%), Simmental/Brahman (14%) Simmental/Tswana cross (6%), Simmental (6%), Brahman (6%), Bonsmara (1.5%) and Afrikaner (1.5%). Seventy percent of the respondents were males, only 48% of the cattle population in the study area was inserted with bolus, extension service is inadequate and that LITS system is experiencing implementation challenges. These challenges are attributable mainly to frequent breakdown of equipment in the field resulting in backlogs in bolus insertions, Also, the present results showed that LITS did not contribute to the decline in stock theft cases. Based on the low number of cattle inserted with bolus (48%), these results suggest that LITS in the current form is not enabling Botswana to export beef to the EU market