Following the much publicised northern communal area beef that was sent to Ghana, Meatco continues with its efforts to diversify and penetrate the African markets.
On Friday, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila sent off 25 tonnes of beef to Angola.
“This is from the African people in Namibia to the African people in Angola so that we can prosper together and ensure there is nutrition and good health in our systems,” said Kuugongelwa-Amandhila.
The NCA is the geographical area north of the veterinary cordon fence that separates northern Namibia from the central and southern parts of the country with the intention to control infectious diseases among livestock.
The area south of the Red Line makes up the bulk of Namibia’s meat industry, particularly the exporting of such products to the European Union.
Countries such as the United States of America and China have also joined the growing list of Namibia’s export markets.
Meatco has now started marketing products from the NCA to African markets, such as Ghana and Angola.
The PM also commended the Katima Mulilo abattoir for working tirelessly, despite the challenges of disease outbreaks that disrupted operations.
“This export consignment is yet another step forward to unlock the value of our rural economy, optimise returns from our investments and increase our participation in foreign trade,” said Kuugongelwa-Amandhila.
While giving an overview of Meatco’s operations in the region, the manager of livestock procurement Thimoteus Kativa pointed out that, among others, the challenges that hampers operations includes lack of loading facilities to load cattle from villages to the quarantine camp and having only one quarantine camp.
“We only have one functional quarantine station – that is Kopano. We have been stocking this quarantine camp from when we started up to now, and the grazing now is very much sorry. We need to have an additional quarantine camp that must also be renovated, so that we can continue rendering services to the producers,” said Kativa.
Among the proposed intervention includes “construction of multipurpose crush pen and the renovation of the Katima Mulilo Quarantine Camp”.