By: Nghiinomenwa Erastus
Namibia’s inability to attract and facilitate investment for value addition has led to 45 per cent of the country’s fresh produce going to waste.
This is according to the Investment Catalogue prepared by the country Investment Promotion and Development Board (IPDB) that was pitched to the world at the World Economic Forum last week.
About 90 per cent of small-scale farmers who produce tomatoes, carrots, butternuts and cabbages lose out 40 to 45 per cent of their harvest because of a lack of a proper processing and packaging facility, poor quality and lack of market for non-premium produce, the board revealed.
All this is happening because the private sector and government have not invested in acquiring equipment, packaging material, hygiene equipment, infrastructure modification, construction blast freezers, and suitable cold rooms.
Investment in this infrastructure is needed to create what is referred to as a Parkhouse around the government-owned Agro Marketing and Trading Agency (Amta).
The board revealed that an investment of between N$80 million to N$100 million is required to create this Parkhouse to enable value addition, depending on size, technology, and a variant lease fee as per agreed terms.
However, these projects were pitched in Europe, not locally, despite the capital outlay.
Moreover, AMTA’s five-year strategic plan presented to both the agriculture and public entity ministry also envisioned the same projects; however, no capital was unveiled.
The government is now seeking private money to develop the project and enable value addition.
According to the Investment Catalog, AMTA was mandated to manage the hubs and be the bridge between the producers and the market; they have been only focused on marketing and sales of raw produce, with no value addition being in place.
Currently, there are no packhouses around the hubs regardless of the various crops being grown that could be further processed into frozen vegetables.
The Investment Board explained packhouses, once established, will reduce dependency on the importation of frozen vegetables.
“This is a great investment opportunity as it could increase production capacity in Namibia and open export markets for fresh produce,” the Investment Catalog read.
All frozen veggies consumed in Namibia are currently imported, which constitutes about 10 per cent of the local fresh produce consumption.
As a start, the project will focus on a few product lines, namely tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, butternuts, cabbages and watermelons.
The products will be made available at the hubs. They will also be sold to Namibian retailers, greengrocers, other marketers, caterers, public institutions and individuals.
It is, however, expected that various customers such as retailers and catering institutions will have an opportunity to request specialised pre-packaged produce.
To expand the availability and raise awareness of such products, they will also be distributed at identified mini markets in strategic towns and villages for sales on commission.
Numerous trial runs have been carried out since 2017, and some agents who operated in the hubs were already engaged in the exercise at Ongwediva Hub, albeit in an unfavourable environment.
The results showed that the initiative has the potential to work and achieve the envisaged objectives as assessed by the Investment Board.
THE TOMATOES CASE
Part of the fresh produce produced adequately by the local horticulture farmers is tomatoes. However, lack of value addition leads to harvest wastage because not all of them are being consumed in the raw form.
About 90 per cent of small-scale farmers who produce tomatoes lose out 40 to 45 per cent of the harvest because of a lack of proper processing facilities.
Opportunity, therefore, exists in the establishment of a tomato processing plant, wrote the Investment Board.
Based on the Namibia Agronomic Board (NAB) production forecast for January to May 2022, the envisaged production region is estimated to harvest over 400 metric tons of tomatoes.
These facilities (processing plants) will provide a great opportunity to supply different forms of tomato products.
The project will establish tomato processing facilities and acquire and process tomatoes into tomato paste.
The products will be made available at the hubs. They will also be sold to Namibian retailers, greengrocers, other marketers, caterers, public institutions and individuals.
It is, however, expected that various customers such as retailers and catering institutions will have an opportunity to request specialised pre-packaged produce.
To stretch and expand the availability and raise awareness of such products, they will also be distributed at identified mini markets in strategic towns and villages for sales on commission, promised the Investment Board.
The tomato processing facilities will only require an investment of around N$ 150 million for both cost centres depending on size, technology, and a variant lease fee as per agreed terms.
The funds will be used to acquire equipment, packaging material, hygiene equipment, infrastructure modification, to construct blast freezers and suitable cold rooms, in addition to personnel, marketing and promotions.
AMTA has land dedicated to value addition around the hubs for smart partnerships in agro-processing.
IPDB also highlighted that the tomato processing facility is essential to transform tomatoes into various forms such as tomato juice, tomato sauce, tomato puree, dried tomatoes, etc.
The facility will allow product diversification and reduce post-harvest loss, given the perishability of this commodity.
AMTA has two national hubs situated in Rundu, Kavango East, and Ongwediva, Oshana region. Further, AMTA has one Collection Hub located in Windhoek and another recently launched Distribution Centre in Gobabis, all with the sole purpose of catering to farmers.
In terms of grain storage, AMTA has silos in strategic regions, namely Zambezi, KavangoEast, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Omusati regions which cater for grain-producing farmers. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
