Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Financial stress could cripple agriculture, warns Wright

Home Farmers Forum Financial stress could cripple agriculture, warns Wright

Windhoek

Wright, who was not available for re-election due to the illness of his wife and is replaced by Ryno van der Merwe, says in his last annual report as president of NAU that NAU and government must therefore continue to meet to seek solutions to address these major challenges. Hoping that the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the Northern Communal Areas(NCAs) has been halted, he slated the unilateral bureaucratic decision making by Namibia’s major trading partner, South Africa, who wished to introduce new animal health requirements for live animals to enter SA.

“This action by veterinary services in SA, supported by the Red Meat Producers Association of SA, appears to be more of a trade embargo to protect the interest of their livestock producers, despite the fact that SA does not produce sufficient protein itself to feed its population, and has to import processed meat products from countries like Argentina and Brazil,” he notes.

Wright hailed the newly accepted protocol that will allow Namibia to export bone-in beef to China at an expected much lower processing cost into the massive Chinese market.

Wright says Namibian livestock producers have an internationally respected reputation for excellence in terms of their animal health status, one that Namibia needs to protect and one that the government should recognise and communicate with organised agriculture when determining policy to obtain input on the needs of producers.

“At the same time, government needs to examine the reasons for the fact that the contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product of Namibia has reduced from 7.4 percent in 1980 to only 3.2 percent currently. In conclusion, he hailed government for the initiation and compilation of the Namibia Rangeland Forum to address an overall strategy for improving rangeland management in Namibia.