Windhoek
Namibian cattle farmers – hard hit by drought, a raft of stringent new animal health regulations imposed by South Africa and the closure of Meatco’s Okapuka feedlot outside Windhoek – are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel after the Meat Board of Namibia announced that South African feedlots Morgan Beef, Maye West, Mushlendow and Braams would be able to bypass the strict health regulations imposed by the South African authorities on July 1.
This means exports of weaner calves to South Africa can resume after the registration of certain feedlots with that country’s Directorate of Animal Health.
The Meat Board says these feedlots, and others which are yet to be approved, have applied for a resumption under the alternative permit system and more importantly they will carry the costs of the required veterinary tests.
However, they have not been issued import permits by South Africa’s Directorate of Animal Health as yet.
South Africa recently relaxed its import conditions for livestock intended for slaughter in that country. Known as the alternative permit system, only facilities for sheep were registered at the time. Import conditions introduced by South Africa on July 1 resulted in no cattle being exported from Namibia since then, because the required screening tests are prohibitively expensive, especially for communal farmers who supply some 70 percent of all weaners on the hoof for SA markets.
The more lenient permits for exports to feedlots reduce the need for compulsory pre-export brucellosis and double TB testing.
Sheep and goats do not have to be tested anymore and cattle only have to be tested for TB once within 30 days before export. Under the latest system exporters must apply to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in South Africa for the new veterinary import permit and all animals must be properly identified using the official NAMLITs ear tags for cattle, sheep and goats.
The veterinary import permit must be certified by a state veterinarian in Namibia, while at the border the exporter must declare the consignment to veterinary officials of both countries.
Veterinary officials in South Africa will issue a ‘red cross’ permit for the consignment from the border to the final destination, where arrangements have to be made for the owner of the facility (feedlot or abattoir) to receive the consignment and break the seals.
Chairperson of the Namibian Livestock Producers Organisation Mecki Schneider said from day one that implementation of these strict measures in fact had little to do with Namibia’s animal health status, but was rather a trade restriction with the purpose to stimulate better producer prices for South African farmers through an increase in demand.