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Home / Mutorwa on Meatco restructuring and the path to food self-sufficiency
Mutorwa on Meatco restructuring and the path to food self-sufficiency
2014-01-10Mathias Haufiku RUNDU – New Era’s Chief Political Reporter, Mathias Haufiku, caught up with the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, to talk about the ministry’s plans and activities for 2014, as well as on the contentious question regarding the restructuring of Meatco. The proposed restructuring engendered a great deal of public debate for the better part of last year. New Era (NE): The African Union has declared 2014 as the Year of Agriculture. How is the ministry preparing for this, and will we see new programmes or merely a continuation and expansion of what is currently in place?John Mutorwa (JM): You have put it quite well, I like your use of the words continuation and expansion. When one looks at our country, one has to really delineate that sector into four subsectors, namely livestock, horticulture, grains and water. We have the green scheme irrigation programme that is running and is important, because it is in line with our ambitions to be a food secure nation. If I can reflect on green scheme projects, I can say our projects have been performing well. The maize meal distributed under the drought relief programme is produced at green scheme irrigation projects within the country. Nothing was imported. We will continue to expand our green scheme projects. During this year, we will officially inaugurate Sikondo Irrigation project outside Rundu, because all infrastructure is in place. Hopefully, the Kalimbeza National Rice Project will also be expanded in terms of infrastructure. Apart from expanding, we will also come up with new projects, more specifically the proposed green scheme project in the Mpungu constituency. In terms of horticulture, the vegetables and fruits have found their place in the Fresh Produce Business Hubs in Rundu and Ongwediva. We are currently constructing the hub in Windhoek. So to answer your question, we will expand and consolidate our programmes. NE: In terms of research, is government looking to move towards a technology driven agricultural sector?JM: We have a directorate of research and training and I know that at sub-regional level Namibia is a member of the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CARDESA). Last year I went to Cabinet so that the country, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, can establish the Namibia Agricultural Research Institute. I am sure that the colleagues in the directorate of research have made progress in making this institute a reality. As pointed out, research and technology is fundamental to agriculture, hence we cannot afford to be left out. We have to do all that we can to ensure that our research is up to standard. We have the agricultural technological centre being built in Rundu to accommodate the technological infrastructure that is planned for the area. Another centre will also be constructed in Ongwediva. NE: Climate change is beginning to take its toll, more specifically on small-scale farmers. Will your ministry do more to promote conservation irrigation agricultural methods among communal farmers?JM: For sure yes, I know our directorate of extension and engineering services is geared to provide relevant information with regard to new technologies in response to climate change. NE: How far is government with enforcing the ban on the import of fresh produce, which is available on the Namibian market?JM: We are working on that one already, it is not a matter of changing the law. It is not actually a law. The Namibian Agronomic Board, working together with the Agro-Marketing Trade Agency, the body which runs the National Fresh Produce Business Hubs, are responsible for issuing import permits for maize and fresh produce. If you have sufficient produce in the local market, than there is no justification why a permit must be issued to someone who wants to import that very same commodity. Now that we have the fresh produce business hubs, it will be easier to enforce this process. As for wholesalers, it is just logic that if there is a hub just a few kilometres away you can procure your fresh produce from there. NE: There has been reluctance from retailers to procure fresh produce from the local market, because they feel the supply of local fresh produce is not reliable and consistent and the commodities are not of good quality. What do you have to say about this?JM: Generally, people always struggle to adapt to change, I do not know why. Talk of poor quality is mere perception. If you look at what has been happening in this country before the arrival of the fresh produce hubs, the produce that we produced at our irrigation schemes was transported to South Africa just to undergo value addition processes such as sorting, grading and packing. These are things that can now be done locally. If I was the wholesaler having to import and at the same time incur high transportation costs, my logic tells me it is better to get the produce locally. Quality should not be an issue, because the hubs are under strict instructions when it comes to quality since food is such a sensitive commodity. Farmers cannot just take anything to the hubs, their produce should conform to a certain quality and standards that the consumers will be happy with. Anything that comes out of the hub must have satisfied the quality requirements. NE: Will wholesalers and retailers be compelled to procure fresh produce for their shops from the fresh produce business hubs?JM: As a government we respect the constitution and it makes express mention of the free market and our mixed economy model. All that we are saying is that the retailers were complaining that the produce is not available, but now we are stimulating local production and products are available, what other excuse is there for them to import rather than to buy it locally so that we can produce what we consume and consume what we produce. Government and its institutions such as schools and hospitals are the largest consumers of public goods in this country. But then they are saying, why should those given the contracts to supply government with food procure products from outside while the same food is available locally? I do not see why as a country we must issue permits for businesses to import fresh produce, which is available on the Namibian market. NE: Small-scale farmers have long complained of being excluded from the mainstream market. Are there enough avenues for our small-scale farmers to produce on a large scale?JM: I think a lot still needs to be done. Of course the issue of access to finance is an issue for most communal farmers, whether livestock or crop farmers. At least those we have accommodated at the green scheme projects are better off, because they are in most cases financed by AgriBank. The large majority of communal farmers continue to struggle to access money in order to produce more. I cannot be presumptuous to speak on behalf of other institutions, but through our ministry we are working on implementing the agricultural financing scheme. I do not know whether there is a window for farmers to access money with the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank, if there is none then I plead that we think of including them. Ordinary banks are also reluctant to provide finance to our farmers. All efforts should be geared towards finding a way to support small-scale farmers. My ministry provides support in terms of training and small subsidies, but it is not enough. NE: Northern communal farmers continue to lament the presence of the red line, since they feel it disadvantages them. What can be done in this regard?JM: In terms of meat marketing, I know that apart from the Zambezi Region and a part of the Mukwe constituency in Kavango East, the rest of the Northern Communal Areas do not have to quarantine their animals before taking them to the abattoirs. We are working towards assisting our small-scale farmers by taking abattoirs closer to them. Therefore, in addition to the big abattoir in Oshakati, we constructed one in Opuwo and others will be constructed in Outapi, Eenhana and Rundu. I think farmers near Rundu have been the most disadvantaged, because they are forced to travel long distances to get their livestock to the abattoir in Oshakati. NE: So where does this leave the livestock farmers in the Food and Mouth Disease prone zones such as the Zambezi Region?JM: We also have plans for them, they will not be excluded because we also want them to make a living from their livestock like others. We will put up measures to include them and with the support from the Millennium Challenge Account, we will devise inclusive measures that are unique to the situation. The prevalence of FMD in the Zambezi Region does not justify exclusion, hence, we are planning to put up infrastructure in the FMD prone areas to meet the challenges facing small-scale farmers of livestock who are constrained by the red line. Soon these challenges will be alleviated. NE: How far is the implementation of the restructuring of Meatco by Cabinet, which is regarded as a way to help communal farmers?JM: We have made significant progress, last year I went to Cabinet where the final draft bills that will translate in the new entities was deliberated and approved. The entities will probably be called the Namibian Meat Company and the Namibia Livestock Cooperative. I was given the mandate by Cabinet to take the draft bills as per standard procedure to the Cabinet committee on legislation. It served before the committee in August where it convened a full session to go through the bill clause by clause. The committee, which is chaired by the Minister of Justice, went through the bills and approved it. The bills are currently with the legal drafters who will put in whatever it is that the Cabinet committee has recommended in legal language. Once the legal drafters have done that, the bills will head to parliament. As the line minister, if everything goes well, those bills must be in parliament in 2014 in order for lawmakers to debate, perfect and pass the bills that will eventually lead to the formation of the new entities. NE: Why, in your view, has there been so much resistance to the formation of the new entities?JM: Whoever it is that is resisting this process, go and ask them, don’t ask me. I do not have the mandate to speak on behalf of those resisting, all that I can say is that I have successfully acted on a Cabinet decision taken in 2007 on Meatco. I have taken this issue to its logical conclusion in the sense that the bills are now on the table, I will be happier when the bills head to parliament. Now, the reluctance by whosoever, go and ask them don’t ask me. By Mathias Haufiku 2014-01-10Mathias Haufiku
