IN-DEPTH ANALYSES OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES BY LEA REGIONS – PHASE IV: MOLEPOLOLE BRANCH LEA has completed three (3) phases of the study on the Assessment of Business Opportunities by LEA regions. The first two (2) phases identified business opportunities in all sectors of the economy in all the thirteen (13) LEA regions. Phase III of the study entailed in-depth analysis of selected identified opportunities for the Kasane, Ghanzi and Tsabong regions in order to inform the organisational strategy. Following the approval of phase III of the study, LEA Management directed the conduct of phase IV to cover the remaining LEA regions Submitted by: Research and Development Division Date of Submission: March 2014
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
a. Overall objective The overall objective of the study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the identified opportunities in Molepolole LEA region.
b. Study Findings
i. Introduction The Molepolole LEA region consists of Kweneng west, Kweneng south and Kweneng north, including the surrounding villages and their localities.
The Assessment of Business Opportunities by LEA Regions Phase IV study is a follow up to Phases 1, II and III studies carried out in 2012 and 2013. Phases I and II mapped business opportunities across the LEA 13 branch regions while phase III study carried out an in-depth analysis of the mapped opportunities for Ghanzi, Tsabong and Kasane branches. The current study‟ s main objective was to carry out an in-depth analysis of some selected opportunities at the 10 branches that were not covered by the Phase III study. This report presents the in-depth analysis of 3 business opportunities for Molepolole branch. The analysis was aimed at validating the identified opportunities as well as establishing strengths, challenges and existence of supportive infrastructure and other services that could support the uptake of the identified opportunities in Molepolole.
The approach to collecting data was two pronged. The first included undertaking regional workshops with the Development Economic Development Committee (DEDC) and other relevant stakeholder who are key in business development in the region, to map, validate and rank opportunities according to their competitive
Page ii of 10 advantage. Workshop results were achieved through the rating, from a scale of 1- 10, various factors affecting the development of identified business opportunities.
Page 3 of 10 The rated factors include availability of raw materials/inputs to undertake the business, market availability, technical support, land availability, water availability, cultural background, legislation, policies and programme, skills availability, availability of financial support, regional climatic conditions, physical environment and development of infrastructure to enable ease of doing business.
The second approach entailed prioritising the ranked opportunities and selecting the top four (4) to collect primary data from key stakeholders supporting the identified opportunities. Questionnaires were designed specifically to collect data from key stakeholders supporting the identified opportunities. Secondary data was also collected to augment collected primary information.
With the above factors influencing selection of opportunities for further analysis, the three opportunities selected for in-depth analysis in the Molepolole LEA region are Small Stock Production, Beef Cattle Farming and Agriculture Input Supply. The forth opportunity, Sports Tourism, was deemed suitable for promotion by the Botswana Tourism Organisation which already has other sporting activities under its umbrella.
ii. Small stock production The importance of goats and sheep in Botswana cannot be over-emphasised, they make an indispensable contribution to food, agriculture and rural development in Botswana. Identified as one of the three business opportunities in the Molepolole region, it has been found that the country is not self-sufficient in small stock meat because small stock production is hindered by a number of factors including high mortality rates, poor nutrition and breeding practices. Small stock in the district is
Page iii of 9 mainly kept for subsistence purposes. The commercialisation of this sector in the Kweneng region is supported by the vegetation which consists of bush and tree savannah, with acacia shrubs formations in southern, eastern and northern areas. The western part is generally covered with shrub savannah land grass due to low precipitation and occurrence of Kalahari sands, which determines the predominance of hardy bush and grass species, reflecting desert-like conditions. The total number of goat and sheep in the region were 306,794 and 42,765 respectively in 2012.
The challenges experienced in small stock production, mostly relate to parasites and diseases. The other challenge facing the farmers is that of predators, mostly jackals, which attack stray livestock during the day at the grazing. Another challenge is that of small stock theft, which has been fuelled by the recent government restocking exercises initiative.
iii. Beef Cattle farming Beef cattle production is an outstanding economic activity in the Kweneng Region. This is done extensively under two production systems, that is, traditional and commercial systems. Although the region has a cattle population of 267,022 as at December 2012, most of them are reared under the traditional setup. Kweneng south has a sizable number of cattle compared to the other regions in the district. The government introduction of poverty alleviation schemes such as Young Farmers fund has increased the demand for cattle in the region. These young farmers buy cattle from different sources including Banyana farm which is owned by the government, other farmers in their region and also import from the neighboring RSA. Supporting the commercialisation aspect of this sector, the Botswana Meat Commission remains the readily available lucrutive market for cattle. The region has vast areas of land ear-marked for commercial ranching and
Page iv of 9 the bush and tree savannah, with acacia shrubs vegetation is also supportive of this opportunity.
The major challenge for beef cattle farming in the Kweneng region remains the water sources which are boreholes. These boreholes are very expensive to drill because the water aquifers are far too deep, with depths of up to 455 metres requiring farmers to spend considerably more as compared to other regions. In addition, the water from some of these boreholes is very saline and non-portable for both livestock and human consumption.
iv. Agriculture Input Supply. The agriculture input suppliers in Kweneng region consists mainly of medication and feeds for livestock. The region had a total cattle population of 267,022 in 2012 which is a healthy market for the input suppliers. The MoA supports farmers with vaccinations during disease outbreaks as well as through provision of continual and free extension services for their livestock through the division of DVS. Medication for the welfare of the livestock and feed supplements remain the responsibility of the farmers. Farmers buy medication and feeds from the LAC and other retailers in the region. Recently, hawkers have been spotted selling feeds and other farming inputs by the roadsides in the region.
Most of the feed retailers in the region are located in Molepolole, with the MoA‟ s LAC, providing animal medication and feeds at subsidized prices. Other places like Letlhakeng also have feed retailers store although not enough to exceed demand in the region, which is at par with the size and livestock carrying capacity of the region. In short, there is shortage of retailing activities in the region which is evidenced by the constant shortage of inputs at the LAC‟ s.
Besides natural grazing, Kweneng has hardly any domestic resources for the production of concentrated feed or fodder (hay, silage, straw). In the communal
Page v of 9 areas crop residues provide some fodder reserve, but in drought years in which fodder is needed there is usually also a crop failure. There is anecdotal evidence that during an FMD outbreak in South Africa the importation of straw is temporarily banned, some feedlots send workers into the bush to cut standing hay to replace the straw.
v. Overall conclusion.
All the four identified business opportunities in the Molepolole LEA region were found to be supported by the RDD opportunity identification criterion which includes; raw material availability, land availability, water availability, Legislation and programme support, technical support, skills availability, physical environment, financial support and market availability. The sports tourism opportunity was however found to be suitable if promoted by the Botswana Tourism Organisation since it has been promoting other sporting activities. Hence the LEA remained with three business opportunities in the Molepolole LEA region. The table below summarises the list of opportunities for the Molepolole LEA region together with the supporting factors.
Page vi of 9 Table 1 Molepolole LEA region validated Opportunities
BRANCH MAIN UPSTREAM AND MAIN SUPPORTING FACTORS BUSINESS DOWNSTREAM OPPORTU OPPORTUNITIES NITY MOLEPOLOLE Commercial . Subsistence small stock production . Slaughter facilities Small stock presents an opportunity for . Skin collection production commercialization in the region. . Animal feeds . Suitable vegetation for small stock supplies rearing. . Animal tools, . Availability of financial support equipment, through different institutions medication supplies. . Government supportive . Meat processing. programmes tailor-made for the . Butcheries sector. i.e. LIMID . Butchery tools and . Availability of market especially equipment supplies from neighbouring cities and towns
Beef Cattle . Availability of land demarcated . Supply of farming for commercial ranching. Agriculture inputs. . Vegetation suitable for cattle . Manufacturing and pastures. supply of feeds. . Majority of cattle kept under the . Borehole drilling services traditional production systems presents potential for . Hides collection. commercialization. . Availability of financial support programmes such as CEDA young farmers fund . Access to the main market- the
Page vii of 9 Botswana Meat Commission. . Existence of government technical support through the Departments of Animal Production and Veterinary Services. . Subsidized feeds and medication by government through LACs.
Agriculture . High livestock populations in the . Manufacturing of Input region thus creating a market for agriculture inputs Supplies input supplies. (tools, equipment, and medication. . Availability of support institutions such as LEA and CEDA in the . Wholesale supply region to provide business of feeds advisory services and financing of . Beef feedlots enterprises. . Transport & . Shortage of agricultural input logistics suppliers in the region especially areas far from Molepolole. . Availability of industrial land for construction of suitable warehouses and stores.
Page viii of 9 vi. Recommendations a. The LEA strategy has been opened to accommodate all sectors, small stock and related industries should be given priority as the sector is not capital and labour intensive.
b. LEA should advocate for commercial farms at Kweneng region for the government to reserve some farms particularly for small stock. Majority of the small stock farmers in the region are of subsistence scale.
c. The LEA should apply more interventions in the primary production of beef cattle to take advantage of the available market at the BMC.
d. LEA should promote clients who are ready to open retail feed outlets in regions other than Molepolole and nearer to where farmers are located.
e. The MoA should control the sale of cattle feed and medication to discourage road-side traders who sell without proper licenses. This will stop farmers from buying expired medication which might be harmful to their livestock.
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