With access to the European market getting stringent by the day due to several new regulations and policy barriers, now is the right time for Namibia to secure its Halal certification to explore the hugely-lucrative Middle East markets. 

These were observations of the Bank of Namibia’s director of research and financial sector development, Emma Haiyambo. 

She highlighted a raft of challenges hindering Namibia’s access to the global market during the recent 25th Annual Bank of Namibia Symposium in the capital. 

This year’s symposium sought to address the burning question of whether Namibia can position its agriculture sector for inclusive development through improved value chains. 

She said one of the biggest challenges facing the country’s agriculture sector is its lack of Halal certification, which blocks Namibia’s meat products from entering the Middle East markets. 

Halal certification ensures that meat-processing procedures of exporting countries adhere to Islamic dietary laws to make it acceptable for Muslims to consume those products. 

If a product contains animals or animal by-products that are considered haram, then it cannot receive a Halal certification. 

Any meat must be slaughtered in accordance with the methods prescribed under Islamic law, known as Zabihah.

The significance of Halal certification for exporting meat to Muslim-dominated countries was emphasised during Namibia’s previous exploratory missions to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

“The lack of Halal certification remains another challenge for our agriculture sector, because now we cannot access other markets such as the Middle East. Our meat is globally renowned, and everyone wants it, but we need to do more to make it accessible to all markets. So, the Halal certification is one of our key priorities going forward. Other challenges pertaining to trading our agricultural products is lack of access to market for northern farmers, high transportation costs, distance as well as limited external branding initiatives,” she noted.

“Other key challenges within the livestock sub-sector remain recurring drought and erratic rainfall, which have severe implications for the agricultural sector. 

The cost of producing agricultural products is defined by higher input prices in Namibia, regardless of production enterprise. The horticulture industry faces many challenges, such as adverse climate change events (droughts and floods), high input costs as well as pest and disease outbreaks,” she added. 

-ohembapu@nepc.com.na