Amendments to Meat Act approved

THE National Assembly recently approved the livestock and livestock products bill, which involves amendments to the Meat Act. These amendments involve the declaration of chicken, dairy, eggs, hides and skins as controlled products. 

All the affected sectors indicated that some input from the Meat Board is expected, whether it be sustainable growth or additional functions. The funding of the functions to the sectors will be done on a similar basis to that of cattle, sheep, and goats. 

The proposed legislation has yet to be published in the Government Gazette. As soon as this happens, consultations with the respective sectors will begin in earnest.

FAN meat office conducting farm audits for 2023

Auditors from the FAN Meat Office of the Meat Board are conducting farm audits. Sixty establishments that are supplying export abattoirs with slaughter-ready cattle and sheep were selected. Auditors will give notice to selected livestock producers well in advance before farm audits take place. Tarah Shinavene was appointed by the Meat Board of Namibia and will be responsible for contacting livestock producers as well as conducting farm audits. Farmers cooperation in this regard will be highly appreciated. 

Rationalisation of stock brands during the DVS campaign

The stock brand campaign of the Directorate of Veterinary Services is an attempt to clean the database. During an investigation, it was indicated there is a large number of unused stock brands in the database. All producers are therefore called upon to submit the stock brands and herd information form before 31 October 2023. This form can be obtained from local state veterinarian offices and is also available on the Meat Board website. The information that is collected will be used to update the stock brand system, as well as the traceability system (NamLITS) and the Meat Board producer system. Furthermore, the herd numbers information will be used to update and improve census data. The cooperation of producers in this regard is necessary for the success of this campaign.

Meat Board increases contributions to maintain cordon fence

The Meat Board has stepped up its contributions to support the Directorate of Veterinary Services with the maintenance of the VCF and specifically with the appointment of a four-man maintenance team. The aim of the team is to assist the Directorate’s Veterinary teams with the maintenance of the Meat Board-funded electrified sections of the Veterinary Cordon Fence. Namibia’s elephant population has grown to such an extent that breaches of the Veterinary Cordon Fence occur daily and the only method to prevent the damage is to electrify the fence.

- Meat Board of Namibia