The Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, honourable Thabo Mofosi says, the Ministry remains committed to creating a conducive environment for those in the agricultural sector to promote economic growth.

He said this when announcing to the nation that a local company owned by youth bearing the name 'Phallo Beef Limited', has officially registered and will be producing red meat from grade A to B. He said this at a press conference held in Maseru on Friday.

According to the Minister, this is a milestone for the country, especially seeing that only grade C type was produced locally, adding the government has no intentions to enter into Public Private Partnership (PPP) with this company but wholeheartedly support the private sector’s move in building the economy.

He stipulated that initiatives such as these ones are aligned to the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP ll) review extension, SDG’s as well as National Livestock Development Policy to mention but a few.

Minister Mofosi appealed to Area Chiefs, Community Councillors as well as the entire nation to support this initiative, indicating this company also has a social media strategy to attend to civil and response systems matters proactively for effectiveness of red meat production in the country.

Sebabatso Makoanyane, one of the founders of 'Phallo Beef Limited' said construction of the abattoir will commence at Thaba - Ts'ooana, Berea in July 2024 and will be completed In November 2025.

He indicated that once all is in operation, at least 1 000 Basotho will get jobs while the abattoir will at least ensure that 320 cattle are slaughtered per day, thus will be needing over 100 000 cattle annually.

Moreover, the March 2022 Global Red Meat Production Trends has shown that demand across the globe as well as supply levels are said to have a direct impact on the red meat sector with Covid 19 effects having made matters worse.

The EU Commission medium-term outlook has stated that global meat consumption is forecast to grow by 1.4 percent each year, hence it is imperative to be aware of the position of other major red meat producing countries across the globe.

By 2030, beef is predicted to represent 20 percent of all the protein from meat sources globally, whilst sheep meat will represent 5 percent respectively. Currently, the United States is currently the largest beef producing country, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.