Namibia has spent many years and considerable resources in ensuring that it has access to high-value markets for its beef and related commodities/products.
The local meat industry is currently worth in excess of N$ 2.4 billion annually, which makes up 80 percent of agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and four percent of national GDP, according to studies conducted by the Meat Board.
It is therefore vital that the requirements for access to international markets are maintained. That is dependent, among other factors, upon preservation of Namibia’s excellent reputation as a source of safe, high quality meat and meat products. Following the widespread occurrence of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in South Africa in 2010, and apparent spill-over into Namibia and the recent upsurge in occurrence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, a risk analysis for imports of livestock and meat and meat products into Namibia was seen as important. This is to assist in protecting the Namibian livestock and meat industry, i.e. identification and quantification of animal disease risks that potentially threaten the future viability of the meat industry of the country.
Live animal imports into Namibia are limited in comparison to exports. In 2014 1 926 cattle, 1 257 sheep, 451 goats and 444 pigs were imported into the country, the vast majority originating from RSA. As far as animal products are concerned the importation of pork and processed pork currently represents 94 percent of all imports. Namibia does not produce these products in sufficient quantities to satisfy local demand. The production of pork is financially difficult due to high feed costs while processed meat is being imported as it is not produced locally in sufficient quantity. This is reportedly due to the specialised expertise required for its manufacture. Mutton and beef imports represent only two percent and four percent respectively of total meat imports. Pork and processed pork products imports are much higher.
Livestock production in Namibia has historically been divided by the Veterinary Cordon Fence (VCF) established to prevent the spread of FMD and CBPP from the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) southwards into the export zone of Namibia. Nevertheless, in recent years, deboned beef from the Katima Mulilo and Oshakati abattoirs has been sold south of the VCF.
Namibia exported 100 211 live cattle to South Africa last year while Meatco and Witvlei Meat slaughtered a total of 115 819 cattle. Animals sourced from north of the VCF amounted to 8 019. Namibia exported 19 373 live goats, 803 sheep and 2 988 cattle to Angola in 2014.
A recent investigation which examined the animal disease situation in countries that contribute to the Kavango-Zambesi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) as well as countries that border on those KAZA TFCA countries concluded that:
• Published information on animal disease, including major TADs, is incomplete for most countries.
• Reporting on FMD by Botswana and Namibia appears to be timely and accurate and to provide a true reflection of the situation; an imperative dictated by the export trade in beef.
• Reporting on FMD by Angola, Tanzania and Zimbabwe is less likely to reflect the true situation in those countries and this may be a problem for their neighbours.
• Apart from FMD, diseases of particular concern for KAZA countries include CBPP, bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, rabies and canine distemper for wildlife where they share their habitat with domestic animals.
• PPR has been identified as an immediate threat by SADC to the entire region. Although the only countries that have officially reported that the disease is present are Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania, seropositive goats were found in Zambia near the border with Tanzania, thus bringing the infection closer to the KAZA area.
• It was not possible to evaluate the efficacy of control measures applied by the various countries but it is fair to say that the reports of diseases indicate that much more is needed for effective control.
• Disease outbreaks, in particular FMD and RVF, appear to be increasing in the region. Although some of this may be due to improved reporting, FMD is widely recognised to be on the increase in SADC countries and this is attributed at least in part to loss of effectiveness of vaccination.
This unsatisfactory situation within the SADC region is supported by reports from SADC Country Veterinary Services to the World Organisation for Animal Health (SADC FMD Bulletin – www.wcs-ahaead.org).
In the period 2005-2010 the following TADs (excluding those that affect poultry and companion animals exclusively) were reported to the OIE as being active: FMD, RVF, lumpy skin disease (LSD), African swine fever (ASF), anthrax, rabies, highly pathogenic avian influenza of ostriches (HPAI-O), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and peste des petits ruminants (PPR). These diseases therefore pose a threat to Namibia as well. However, some are endemic to Namibia and therefore do not pose an exclusively external threat, e.g. FMD, ASF, RVF, LSD, anthrax and rabies.
A disease that is little mentioned in the context of TADs is contagious caprine pleuropneumonis (CCPP), a disease that causes significant losses in eastern Africa, including in Tanzania (WAHID – www.oie.int). It is likely that were CCPP to be introduced into Namibia, especially SVCF, it could have significant effect on the export of live goats by Namibia to RSA.
The situation with respect to individual transboundary animal diseases (TADs) in the SADC Region are discussed individually below.
The FMD situation in the SADC Region has deteriorated significantly in the last ten years, the last five particularly.
South Africa – Namibia’s most important regional trading partner for livestock and livestock products – has regained its status as FMD free in 2013 after an outbreak in northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in February/March 2011. That resulted in RSA being delisted by the OIE as having a zone free from FMD where vaccination is not practised.