Still no Director of DVS
The appointment of a Director of Veterinary Services remains a great concern for the LPO.
This position has been vacant since 2008 and is filled by an acting director. Unfortunately the vacancies at DVS are not filled either and the Directorate does not expand.
The SADC-EU-EPA agreement
This agreement, which should have replaced the trade chapter of the Cotonou-agreement at the end of 2007 was initialled on July 15. The final EPA document was installed in Pretoria by both parties about two and a half months before its date of lapse, October 1, 2014.
Had Namibia missed this date, the country’s quota and tariff-free exports of beef, fish and grapes to the EU would have been pushed aside. The quota is inevitably of great importance for Namibian beef producers. The
initialling is significant as both parties accepted the contents of the agreement as final. The content must still be scrutinised by legal advisors before it will be tabled in the National Assembly. It is expected that it could still take a year before the complete EPA will be ready for signing.
In the meantime Namibia’s quota- and tariff-free access to the EU-markets continues. Furthermore the diversification of trade in the form of alternative marketing possibilities is still being explored. The Minister of Trade and Industry together with the Meat Board and other processors in the meat industry visited Hong Kong and China to investigate other markets. In particular factory meat can also be exported to Russia. Meat export to the United States of America (USA) is another possibility. The phyto-sanitary system with regard to meat inspection certification, however, still has to be finalised by the Food Security and Inspection Services (FSIS) of the United States of America.
The other important trade agreement is the SACU-EFTA (European Free Trade Association). This is a
trade agreement between Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland and the non-members of the EU, Iceland, Luxemburg, Switzerland and Norway. According to this agreement Namibia can export 3 000 tonnes of beef per year levy-free to Norway.
New Meatco business structure
Meatco’s business structure has not yet been finalised. For Meatco’s survival and that of the meat industry in Namibia, it is of utmost importance that it is finalised as soon as possible.
NamLITS traceability
In July 2013 an updated replica of the NamLITS software, NamLITS II was installed. The conversion to the new software caused many problems and regular meetings are held with the Directorate of
Veterinary Services (DVS) to solve them. Over time the problems will decrease. To maintain the status of a net export country, it is important that traceability is guaranteed. The traceability system serves as a basis to adhere to the 90/40 day requirements. The biggest challenge, however, is still the human factor, namely the DVS personnel who must keep the data system strictly and correctly up to
date and also the producers who have to ensure that their own herd lists and records are regularly updated. It is still of vital importance that producers support this system completely and also take ownership thereof.
Rabies among kudus
Following the 2010 Congress point of discussion, a management committee was compiled which consists of representatives of the Ministry of Environment, the Directorate of Veterinary Services, the LPO/NAU, NNFU, NECFU, NAPHA, CANAM and interested private veterinarians. A project proposal together with a budget was compiled and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) gave its approval. Approval was also given to implement the project in the facilities of MET at the Waterberg Plateau Park.
In the meantime the LPO succeeded in getting promises for N$1,26 million of the N$2,072 million budgeted, and therefore decided to proceed with the project. The prospects to get the remainder of the funds are positive. The first meeting of the management committee was held on July 15.
Value chain management plan
The LPO had the privilege to invite Dr Raphael Karuaihe of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to deliver a talk about the merchandising of agricultural commodities on the Stock Exchange. There is a possibility that livestock and livestock products can be merchandised on the Stock Exchange and thus products will have to be designed. This was one of the results identified by the LPO from a value-chain management plan.
Costs involved in complying with the requirements of export markets
The study with regard to “The costs involved in complying with the requirements of export markets” was concluded at the end of last year and feedback was given to members at the congress and other events. The conclusion of the study was that the costs to comply with export markets are warranted.
However, the study shows that the advantages to export meat do not reach the producer and that an urgent strategy has to be followed to make the slaughtering industry more profitable. The results of this study together with the strategy have been submitted to the ministries of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and Trade and Industry and it was decided that further action steps should be taken. One of the action steps was to ensure a fair share of the Norwegian quota.
Eradication of venereal diseases among cattle
The LPO has decided that determining the extent and prevention of venereal diseases will not justify the costs and that government does not have the capacity to do a country-wide survey. The eradication of venereal diseases must be taken higher up at farmers associations’ level. Dordabis
Farmers Association, that proposed the point for discussion at the congress, was requested to do this as a pilot project.
GMO – position of the LPO
The Namibian Biosafety Act has been approved, but as the regulations have not been finalised, it has not yet been implemented. Namibia is a net exporter of meat and dependent on consumers and their preferences. The LPO management decided that this aspect, namely meat coming from animals which
have eaten GMO feed, must be quantified and that the perception of the consumer and the markets in this regard must be determined accordingly. A consultant was appointed to collect information to formulate the LPO view, especially seen in the context of other commodities within the agricultural
sector. After a detailed analysis of the markets, and also of the sources of cattle feed, the researchers came to the conclusion that the LPO does not have to prohibit the use of GMOs in feed.
Vision of the meat industry
Due to the negative impact of fragmentation within the meat industry, the total industry (producers, agents, abattoirs and processors under the leadership of the Meat Board) has worked on the finalisation of the vision document for more than a year. In this vision various aspects are discussed, such as animal health, production, value addition, marketing, trade and industry consolidation. The vision was finalised last year on June 26 at a workshop when it was decided who should take responsibility for the coordination of the various action plans. The Livestock Producers Forum (LPF) was tasked with this.