Namibian Swakara, hunting suffer due to COVID-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a very significant impact on the Namibian agricultural industry, and the Swakara industry in particular.

This was according to

Piet Gous, president of the Namibia Agricultural Union. He told Farmer’s Weekly that international fur auctions had come to a standstill because of the pandemic.

“Efforts to trade Swakara pelts digitally [have been] less effective than anticipated because traders mainly evaluate quality and prices on the way pelts look and feel. This means that only 8% of the pelts produced in 2019/2020 have actually been sold. The matter is made worse by the fact that the majority of Swakara producers farm in the drought-stricken southern part of the country,” Gous said.

The fact that Namibian Breweries had been prohibited from producing products also had a marked impact on the country’s dairy industry. Namibian dairy producers largely depended on high-fibre malted grain residues as a source of animal feed. This meant that the industry had to increasingly depend on alternative, much more expensive feed.

Gous added that the industry’s very survival was threatened by the lack of affordable feed, among other challenges. For example, the industry had been struggling for the past few years because of drought, low profit margins, and high input costs.

The closing of the country’s borders had a further marked impact on the trophy hunting and tourism industries.

Gous said these industries were important forms of diversification for landowners. Because of the pandemic, they lost the opportunity to generate additional income and this had already led to significant job losses in both industries.

“The matter is exacerbated by the global uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The future remains uncertain and it is impossible to determine the long-term effect. Trophy hunting and tourism, as well as Swakara production, [have been] left extremely vulnerable,” he said.

Commodity prices had also decreased, while weaner prices fell sharply, due to the reduced demand from the South African feedlot sector. Namibian beef exports had not been greatly affected, but the declining global economy did negatively affect prices. Limited purchasing power in the country had also had an impact on the red meat industry as the expected prices for breeding material was not realised due to the downwards trend of the economy. Trade in the so-called fifth quarter, including offal, came to a virtual standstill. “The usual uptake of red meat by the tourism and hospitality industries shrank to nearly nothing, which also severely affected local sales.” – Annelie Coleman