Windhoek
Hot on the heels of Namibia’s historic breakthrough as the first African country to qualify for beef exports to China and America, Meatco last Friday also rewrote the history books by becoming the first abattoir on the continent to introduce a mobile slaughter unit (MSU) to the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs).
The state-of-the-art MSU of N$5 million, tailored to the unique circumstances of the communal producers, was officially introduced to the industry by CEO of Meatco Advocate Vekuii Rukoro, as part of Meatco’s fresh business plan after it had operated the abattoirs in Katima Mulilo and Oshakati for the past 23 years at huge losses.
In the last financial year, Meatco lost over N$43 million due to these costly operations and the contract to lease these abattoirs from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry was terminated at the end of 2015.
The new MSU will not result in any job losses for Meatco. On the contrary, it will stimulate local entrepreneurship, as all offal will be sold directly to villagers, and to small and medium enterprises under the supervision of the Meatco Foundation.
A visibly excited audience listened attentively to Rukoro when he explained the advantages of the MSU that was purpose-built in North America to Meatco’s own specifications.
“The MSU can do the same job as a brick and mortar abattoir that will cost about N$30 million. The first unit will be employed within weeks at the Mutambo Ribebe Quarantine Camp, 50 km west of Rundu. Farmers in the Kavango area will no longer have to travel 550 km to slaughter their animals in Oshakati, as the new facility will come to them,” Rukoro noted.
He says the MSU will be able to slaughter 25 cattle daily with ease, meaning a total of close to 5 000 animals will be slaughtered by the MSU per annum.
“Operating at a fraction of the cost of a fixed abattoir, we will experience huge reductions in operational costs, and depending on that, a second unit might be ordered,” he stated.
Only core slaughter staff will be employed, while the fixed-term seasonal support staff will be recruited in the villages where the slaughtering will take place, thus creating local employment opportunities.
Rukoro says the MSU enables them to deploy the unit south of the Veterinary Cordon Fence, in case of future outbreaks of Foot-and-Mouth Disease. Ideally, the first option will be to move the unit to another region within the NCA that is not affected by such an outbreak.
He says the unit will operate four days per week: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Of great importance is that no water will be wasted in the slaughtering process. The MSU has a storage tank for wastewater and blood and wastewater will be disposed at a sewerage treatment plant or spread on pastures.
An onboard wastewater treatment system is also available to fit to the MSU and all water utilised will go through a treatment system. Only environmentally friendly chemicals will be used to clean the slaughter area of the unit.
The MSU consists of a mechanical room, cooling room, carcass splitting area, eviscerating area, hide pulling area and a bleeding area over the fifth wheel of the trailer.
Asked how livestock procurement will take place, executive of operations Jannie Breytenbach explained that livestock procurement coordinators would communicate with their producers and regional marketing co-ops in their regions for dates, venues, quality and numbers of animals needed.
“Inspections will be conducted at pre-identified venues within farming areas with sufficient kraals and water points and we will involve the Meatco Foundation’s Meatco Owned Cattle Project in the Kavango regions.
“Purchase will be done at venues and producers will be paid on the spot on Live Meatco price list and calculated from the weekly Meatco carcass price list. All cattle will be purchased over the scale at the unit where all cattle will also be weighed and graded in terms of age,” he explained.