…commits to improve prices paid to NCA farmers
Meatco is currently engaged in advanced discussions with various markets which would see Namibian beef from the Northern Communal Areas (NCA) being exported to these viable markets possibly by the end of this year, Meatco CEO Mwilima Mushokabanji has said.
Through the recently operationalised Commodity Based Trade (CBT) Protocol, Meatco now has the potential to export meat and meat products derived from animals raised from the NCA into more viable markets, emphasised Mushokabanji.
African markets targeted by Meatco include South Africa, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, DRC, Congo Brazzaville and Gabon while the company also targets United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Kuwait and Oman in the Middle East. South East Asia markets include Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.
“Potential clients and strategic partners visited the Meatco facilities to ascertain the viability of exporting Namibian beef into Asia. The application for Halaal certification according to the requirements of the Gulf Cooperation Council is in progress,” Mushokabanji said.
In line with Standard Operating Procedures, Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) as a competent Authority on Animal Health in Namibia conducted a study in 2014 in the Zambezi Region that led to the adoption of the value chain approach by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This allowed for the development of a procedure commonly known as the Commodity Based Trade (CBT) Protocol that allow for safe trade of meat and meat products produced from the FMD Infected and FMD Protection zones into markets in the FMD Free zones and countries accepting importation of such certified products.
The CBT Protocol was approved by Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR) in October 2019 for implementation. The corresponding standards are contained in Article 8.8.22, Article 8.8.31 and Article 8.8.4 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (2018) respectively.
The CPT Protocol or the value chain approach, focusses on the certifiable process by which products are produced (rather than their geographical origin) in assessing the risk of diseases, this offered the potential for the export abattoirs in the NCA to export meat products that possess an insignificant risk for the transmission of FMD thus it enables marketing opportunities for products from the Katima Mulilo Abattoir situated in the Zambezi Region that is endemic of FMD.
“Meatco through the CBT approach has managed to produce certified beef products by DVS and marketed the beef in markets south of VCF and exported to Ghanian markets. To date, Meatco through the Katima Mulilo Abattoir has managed to ship 14 tonnes of beef to Ghana and for further distribution in West Africa. The Ghanian market is still a developmental market that still requires further development as it is expected to grow exponentially. Botswana and South Africa continues to enjoy beef sales in this market. Preliminary studies indicate that commodity prices in these markets are comparative to those achieved in South Africa. Meatco will continue to explore and develop these markets to its full potential so as to contribute to increased market access to the best advantage of NCA farmers,” Mushokabanji said
Meatco also sold 108 tonnes of primal cuts in market segments south of the VCF in Namibia.
“The products have already been consumed in the south for the past two months. Feedback from the customers shows that the demand for beef from the NCA is increasing. They claim that beef from the NCA is tastier and healthier owing to its free range nature of production,” further remarked Mushokabanji.
He went on to highlight that Meatco remains committed to ensure that the NCA is mainstreamed in the Namibian economy maximising producer returns sustainably and creating wealth to all livestock producers in Namibia.
“Meatco acknowledges that there is a producer price disparity paid to the livestock producers south of the VCF and in the NCA. This disparity is influenced by the realisation from the markets that differs from those achieved from the abattoir SVCF and that of the NCA. However, through market diversification and demand Meatco endeavours to improve realisation thereby paying competitive producers for the same quality delivered by the farmers in the NCA,” concluded Mushokabanji.