Niël Terblanché
The Meat Industry Act of 1981 should be amended to include poultry, dairy and pork to foster growth in production and to protect producers of all meat and related products.
In this regard, certain amendments to the act have already enabled the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform to rename the Meat Board of Namibia as the Livestock and Livestock Products Namibia Board.
New amendments tabled in Parliament by the agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein aim to regulate pork, dairy and poultry.
“The inclusion of dairy and dairy-related products as well as the poultry and poultry-related products including eggs will greatly assist local producers. The two sub-sectors are at the brink of collapse as many producers are going out of production due to imports into Namibia,” Schlettwein said while introducing the bill.
He said that the explicit inclusion of dairy and poultry products in the Meat Industry Act would enable the Meat Board to exercise effective management of the importation of dairy and dairy products as well as poultry meat and pork meat products and overcome the legal challenges experienced over the past years.
The minister added that Namibia is a net importer of food in general and poultry, dairy and pork, in particular, and these products are part of the basic diet of households across all income levels.
“The growth of these sectors in terms of production volume is critical for reducing import reliance which is heavily influenced by animal disease control measures internationally and future imported inflation risk.
“At the same time, the growth of local industry competitiveness is a pre-requisite for long-term industrial sustainability and to ensure maximization of consumer demand needs without obtaining cheaper products elsewhere,” he said.
Schlettwein says this will enable Namibia to develop its dairy and poultry industries through a pro-growth regulatory framework in line with the Namibia Agriculture Policy and Growth at Home Strategy.
“The growth of these agricultural industries, all intensive industries with high employment creation potential are crucial for import substitution, food self-sufficiency and food security as well as adding value to locally produced raw material,” he said.
Intensive agricultural industries such as poultry, dairy and pork represent opportunities for diversification, import substitution and improving the balance of trade.
He said that the inclusion of dairy and dairy-related products as well as poultry and poultry-related products such as eggs, will greatly assist local producers.
“The two sub-sectors are at the brink of collapse because many producers are going out of production as a result of cheap imports. The explicit inclusion of dairy and poultry products in the Meat Industry Act would enable the board to exercise effective management of the importation of dairy and dairy products as well as poultry meat and meat products and overcome the legal challenges experienced over the past years,” he said.
The minister added that an amended Meat Industry Act would enable Namibia to develop its dairy and poultry industries through a pro-growth regulatory framework that lines up with the Namibia Agriculture Policy and Growth at Home Strategy.
“Available data indicate that Namibian consumption is able to support the poultry, dairy and pork industries if these industries can be assisted to grow on the premise that consumer prices are equal to those in the SACU region and not to the detriment of consumers,” he said.
The minister emphasized the importance of the Growth at Home initiative, indicating that it lays down value addition as a premise for initiating industrial growth and for creating jobs locally.
He said that The Meat Board of Namibia (MBN) has already established capacity, competence, and experience.
“Accordingly, the new Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia will leverage on its economies of scale to employ incremental resources to facilitate the inclusion and smooth transition of dairy and poultry as controlled products of the Livestock and Livestock Products Bill,” he concluded.
