Livestock sector in trouble: Schlettwein

Share This Article:

Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform Calle Schlettwein says Namibia’s livestock sector is in trouble and the wealth creation potential in the sector has declined.

Schlettwein said this recently when he met with farmers around Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region.

The aim of the meeting was to inform them about government’s new approach to revive the Green Schemes, as well as value addition within the livestock sector given the fact that currently, Namibia exports large amounts of weaners to South Africa with no value added.

‘We have to do something drastically on livestock. There is a negative balance that caused the shortening of the value chain instead of the lengthening of it,’ he said.

Schlettwein said because Namibia sells weaners, the country exports its beef in the rawest possible form, adding that the country cannot expect wealth creation if it does so.

‘Namibia must have a better balance between exporting weaners and producing slaughter-ready cattle which we can slaughter ourselves, and get back into processing, selling and trading finished goods,’ he stated.

This problem he noted also caused activity in the leather industry to decrease.

‘We have no tannery, we have no leather industry. Our meat processing capacity has sharply declined. Where we were top producers of sausages, salami (meat products) have disappeared,’ the minister stated.

He further said currently, Namibia does not have one registered abattoir that is making money.

All abattoirs, he said, are in a deficit and close to insolvency due to not having enough animals to sustain them.

This also negatively affects all other industries related to abattoirs.

Schlettwein said the agriculture sector needs to get its act together to at least have some abattoirs up and running so as to ensure that there is enough throughput.

‘This way the value chains of by-products and principal products will grow and eventually the agricultural value chain will grow,’ the minister pointed out.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency