‘Separate Meatco subsidiaries needed in Namibia’

Namibia’s beef producers face a number of challenges, including regular droughts, Meatco’s poor performance, and lack of funding in the country’s Northern Communal Areas (NCA). This was according to Roelie Venter, CEO of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), who recently made a presentation to Namibia’s parliamentary standing committee on economics and public administration.

In light of the challenges, Namibian beef producers called on the government to consider the creation of two independent Meatco subsidiaries that would service producers north and south of Namibia’s veterinary cordon fence (VCF).

The VCF stretches across the north of the country. In the NCA north of the line, a number of animal diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), were endemic, while the area south of the line was free of FMD.

“Each subsidiary should enable shareholding by its respective producers and private investors,” said Venter at the hearing.

The producers’ delegation members represented of all the farmers’ unions in the country, namely the Namibia National Farmers’ Union, the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers’ Union, the Previously Disadvantaged Namibian Farmers’ Union, and the NAU.

Parastatal meat processor Meatco operates various slaughter facilities across Namibia.

In the hearing, the beef producers addressed three critical issues, namely late payment of Meatco to livestock producers, non-operational NCA abattoirs, and the position of farmers’ unions regarding Meatco’s future structure.

Venter explained that the state was expected to assume full responsibility for Meatco NCA through subsidisation in order to support market and business development.

“[Once established,] Meatco South and Meatco NCA should operate on business principles and adhere to international best practices. However, Meatco South, benefitting from access to lucrative international and regional markets, should receive limited support from the government, subject to aggressive debt restructuring measures being implemented. This approach ensures a balanced allocation of resources and encourages self- sustainability of both entities,” he added. –