2018-03-20Staff Report 2 Staff Reporter Windhoek A mammoth task awaits the Poultry Production Association (PPA) to increase its production by 30 percent in just two years to achieve the ultimate goal of Vision 2030. This goal is to become a totally self-sufficient industry that can produce more than 53,000 tonnes of broilers by 2020. By upping the current production of 40,827 broilers per annum to some 53,100 tonnes per annum, Namibia will also have to increase its egg production from layers from the current 200,000 eggs per day to some 364,000, and reduce industry insecurity from the current 25 percent to below 12 percent. Informing commercial and small-scale egg and poultry producers on the task ahead, James Roux, a producer and PPA management member, pointed out that food insecurity is and will remain the biggest global issue. “We will have to create a diversified, open market economy in terms of quality and differentiation and become self-sufficient. The ultimate aim will become an export country of a vast range of poultry products,” he observes. Roux adds that the focus of NDP5 for 2017/18 is on agriculture, logistics, tourism and manufacturing. Now is the time for the poultry sector to come on board. He stresses that the PPA’s goal is independence from South Africa. “We are already allowed to import fertilised eggs from international suppliers and hatch them locally. But we need to do much more. We have to revamp our way of thinking and start adding value to poultry products. Poultry products are not just meat, eggs and milk. We have to urgently look at diversifying and also pay attention to our packaging of products and marketing strategies,” he observes. The agricultural sector contributes only 3.2 percent to the Gross Domestic Product but the sector employs one-third of the work force in the country. 2018-03-20Staff Report 2
