SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN News Briefs

SOUTH AFRICA-BOTSWANA: Meat ban causes shortages in Botswana

The ban on livestock products from South Africa and Swaziland due to the
recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is causing acute shortages in
neighbouring Botswana, agencies reported on Wednesday. Suppliers in Botswana
have been finding it increasingly difficult to meet the demand for milk and
related products. Supplies to key institutions like hospitals and schools
are rapidly dwindling and most supermarkets have run out of dairy products.
Last week Botswana's department of animal health and production slapped an
indefinite blanket ban on all livestock products from Swaziland and South
Africa.

The managing director of Clover Botswana, one of the biggest suppliers of
milk products in the country, Koos Kamfer, said that the ban has left his
company with no milk to sell." We are not selling any milk to businesses.
The little you can see in the shelves is all that remains. My worst fear is
the ban could drag on and on," he said. Kamfer added that he is negotiating
with theauthorities in the agriculture ministry to have the ban lifted on
condition that the temperatures of milk and related products into Botswana
are increased.

The ban came after a new outbreak of foot and mouth disease in South
Africa's eastern province of Mpumalanga from where some of the livestock
were exported to Swaziland for re-export. The Botswana ban extended to meat
and meat products of all cloven-hoofed animals and game as well as livestock
feeds and fodder. This is the second time this year that an outbreak of foot
and mouth disease has led to a ban on South African livestock products in
Botswana.