WINDHOEK - Due to financial shortages, the annual farm inspections system of the Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) is now being reviewed and it boils down to the fact that farms that do not form part of the surveillance zone will only receive farm inspections on an ad hoc basis. 

This puts emphasis on the importance for producers to submit their Animal Health Declaration (AHD) forms twice a year. Failure by producers to do so may lead to livestock movement and resulting marketing restrictions. The Namibia livestock identification and traceability system (NamLITS) will automatically identify these farms. The implementation of the action will be formally backdated from July 2018. This means that if a producer has not submitted an AHD form for this period, he may be penalised. AHD information can be entered directly onto the NamLITS system, or the form can be downloaded from the NAMLITS system and submitted by a producer at DVS offices. 

This new development was announced last week when the Board and various sub-committees of the Livestock Producers Organisation (LPO) met last week. The committees are the Livestock Marketing Committee (LMC), the FANMeat Committee and the Animal Health Committee (AHC).

The most important feedback was on the DVS situation which forms part of animal disease monitoring. As soon as more details are available, members will be informed accordingly.  

During the LMC meeting, the agriculture ministry gave feedback on the drought relief scheme. This scheme applies from April 1 to December 31. The scheme has five components, of which the following three are implemented, namely the “livestock marketing incentive”, the “emergency grazing” and the “transport to and from emergency grazing”. Producers’ attention is drawn to the fact that documentary evidence such as permits, VAT invoices, movement registers, etc. need to be carefully kept in order to hand it in to receive the drought aid.

Regarding the FANMeat scheme, the improvement and effectiveness of this system is internally examined to ensure that it is reliable and up to date to ensure that producers are able to market their animals.