Meat Board of Namibia seeks sheep marketing scheme abolished

The Meat Board of Namibia is seeking the agriculture ministry to abolish the sheep marketing scheme as it failed to meet its primary objective.

The small stock marketing scheme was introduced on 1 July 2004 to stimulate value addition to sheep and sheep products locally and ensure supply to sheep abattoirs. The Meat Board’s move follows requests from representatives of the sheep sector as a result of a 1 August 2019 Cabinet to postpone the implementation of the sheep marketing scheme for a period of one year, which would then enable the Ministry of Agriculture to re-evaluate the scheme and propose intensive measures to limit sheep exports.

“The sheep marketing scheme did not succeed in its aim, which was confirmed by a study done by the Ministry of Agriculture,” the Meat Board said in a statement.

Namibian agriculture sector

The Namibian agriculture sector’s contribution to that country’s GDP grew from 4,5% in 2019 to almost 6,6% in 2020. According to the Namibian Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO), annual review for 2021, primary livestock production accounted for more than 55% of this figure. As a result, and given that agriculture supported more than 70% of the population in one way or another, it was clear that the industry was a core pillar of the Namibian economy.

The cattle and sheep production value dropped by 33 and 42,8%, respectively, while the goat production value for 2020 was reduced by 13,9%, according to the Namibian Agricultural Union’s fourth quarter agri-review 2020 report.

A drop in the number of marketable livestock led to a reduced throughput to export abattoirs. Specifically, the number of sheep procured by export abattoirs reached such low levels that it became unsustainable, and for that reason one of the last two existing export abattoirs temporarily ceased operation.