Generally, the cattle industry, and in particular the BMC, is in decline. Cattle farmers in Botswana currently get poor deals as they only have access to two markets, BMC and local butcheries.Farmers are not able to directly access more profitable export markets such as South Africa, where both cattle and beef fetch higher prices.In 2003/4 agriculture contributed 2.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 70-80 percent of which was attributed to cattle production.
Statistics Botswana figures show that the cattle population has fluctuated between 2.5 million and 3 million.However, the commonly accepted estimate is 2.5 million cattle. Cattle holdings grew from 66,410 in 2007 to 75,937 in 2008 at national level. Evidence gathered by the annual Agricultural Survey Report suggests that cattle population increased significantly by 24.1 percent from 1.778 million to 2.220 million in 2008.
In the years reviewed, the traditional sector dominated cattle population. The trend shows figures ranging between 2.0 million and 2.5 million, except in 2002 when the population rose to 3 million and in 2007 when it declined to about 1.8 million.
