Windhoek
The Namibian dairy industry is in dire straits and a delegation of the Dairy Producers Association of Namibia (DPA) will spell out their grievances at a meeting with the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development (MITSD) next week Tuesday.
This transpired during yesterday’s annual general meeting of the DPA after chairperson Japie Engelbrecht stressed the importance of the survival of the industry, which currently has only 16 producers.
“In June, MITSD announced that a value chain analysis had to be finalized to establish a sectorial growth strategy and development plan that includes government support. We have now reached that stage and look forward to government’s support of an inclusive dairy industry,” Engelbrecht told New Era.
He says the future of the local dairy industry remains uncertain due to cheap imports of milk and milk products from South Africa.
At the same event, guest speaker and managing director of the Milk Producers’ Organisation of South Africa, Dr Chris van Dijk, underlined the minute role of Namibia as milk producer with a contribution of just .23 billion litres of milk annually, compared to SA which delivers 3.09 billion litres and Kenya 4.26 billion litres every year. He urged Namibian producers to explore UHT milk production to its fullest as one area of growth, saying Namibia imports some 500 000 litres of UHT milk per month.
Engelbrecht said that due to much higher feeding costs in semi-arid Namibia, where feed will always have to be imported, the local industry has reached a stage where it can no longer survive without new government assistance.
“Luckily, government has made it clear that it regards the dairy industry as a strategic industry that is labour intensive and thus supplies jobs. In light of this, new negotiations will start next week,” he noted.
Despite the trying circumstances since August 2014 up to June 2015 due to the drought, milk production increased by four per cent in the period and better rains in May this year guaranteed better feeding prospects for producers, Engelbrecht added.
In August 2014, the High Court of Namibia ruled that import quotas must be done away with after Namibia’s dairy industry enjoyed government support in the form of these quotas since the end of 2013.
Despite the disadvantages, such as having to import feed from South Africa, local milk producers only earned on average N$4.40 per litre, while producers in South Africa received an average N$5.54 in the past year.
Engelbrecht concluded that the local situation is so grave that many of the 16 producers left are also considering giving up if some form of relief is not forthcoming during next week’s deliberations with MITSD.