By Deon Schlechter
WINDHOEK – Meatco will increase the capacity of its Okapuka Feedlot with 8 000 cattle at any one time in the 2014/15 financial year.
In the past, between 18 000 to 20 000 cattle from the Okapuka Feedlot were slaughtered annually and the present financial year will see the standing capacity of the feedlots increase substantially to another 8 000 cattle. This will in turn increase the number of cattle that can be slaughtered from the feedlot to 28 000 in total. Increased capacity at the feedlot will also enable Meatco to comply with the 40-day minimum residential qualifications required by the high-value European Union market.
Meatco’s expansion of the only feedlot in the country comes at a time when the livestock industry is suffering great losses due to the stringent new animal health requirements for export permits to South Africa. This has resulted in a single head of cattle not being exported to the neighbouring country since May 1 this year while the two countries still remain locked in discussions about the requirements and Namibia desperately seeking some relief in relaxing these requirements.The industry decided to look inward and concentrate on slaughtering locally and become less dependent on the South African market. A viability and feasibility report will be concluded by financial experts within the next few days to take the proposal a step further.
Namibia’s small scale and communal goat farmers will still bear the full brunt of the export requirements as the South African goat farming industry was absent at the discussions in South Africa, and made no submission for operating procedures to be reviewed. Meanwhile, it was made clear by South Africa that two different standard operational procedures will be put in place sometime this month for breeding and non-breeding cattle and sheep. Namibia’s multi-billion dollar livestock industry on whose livelihood some 72 percent of its 2.2 million inhabitants depend, rakes in more than N$2 billion annually from an average 160, 000 weaners exported to South Africa as well as 100, 000 sheep and about 240 000 goats. Goat exports ensure some N$17 million while live sheep exports amount to about N$8.5 million per annum. Communal farmers contribute more than 60 percent of the total exports and are hardest hit by the situation.