By: Nghiinomenwa Erastus
Around 27 per cent and 30 per cent of the country’s small stock of sheep and goats are being farmed in the !Karas region, according to the Economic Profiling Report on Keetmashoop by First Capital.
The report details the economic outlay of Keetmanshoop and the !Karas region, population dynamics and resources endowment for the region.
To assist potential investors and those entrepreneurs who seek market intelligence in the region and Keetmashoop.
According to the First Capital assessment, the most common livestock in !Karas region includes sheep and goats.
Some farmers own cattle, but they are not comparable to sheep and goats.
The total stock of sheep and goats livestock in !Karas region is 348 756 and 97 086, respectively. The 348 756 stock of sheep in !Karas region accounts for a share of 27 per cent of the total national stock of 1 307 355 sheep country-wide, while the 97 086 goats account for a share of 32 per cent of the entire national stock of 307,559.
Additionally, the most farmed sheep breed in !Karas region is the Dorper, while the goat breed is the Boerbok.
The Keetmanshoop is situated in the region with two big dams and is where grapes are grown. However, despite that, the town barely adds value beyond bricks, interlocks, and haul-bricks making.
Most commodities produced in the town are processed in other towns.
“Livestock products are sent to other towns for processing, such as Windhoek city,” wrote First Capital in the report.
The town Keetmanshoop Southern Abattoir was established in 2016 and is situated within Keetmanshoop.
The abattoir does not, however, slaughter sheep, cattle or goats for export, according to the exporting abattoirs noted in Meat Board monthly statistics.
As for sheep exporting abattoirs, Meat Board noted the Farmers MM: Mariental and Aranos Abattoir.
The Keetmanshoop Southern abattoir employs 25 workers and serves primarily the !Karas region communities.
The abattoir slaughters on average 500 cattle, 250 sheep, 10 goats and 15 pigs per month.
The cost of slaughtering a cow, sheep, goat and pig is N$450, N$80, N$80 and N$150, respectively.
Some of the complaints from agri-entrepreneurs in the south, as documented by First Capital on their assessment, is that the farms use their own transport to move products to their desired destinations.
Thus, the cost of transporting products increases with increases in the price of fuel. Equally so, some farm equipment use fuel, and the recent fuel price hikes raised their cost of production.
Secondly, high inputs cost- most of the farm’s inputs are imported due to the high cost of buying local inputs, and in most cases, this is due to unavailable inputs on local markets.
Livestock farms (piggery and dairy farms) in Keetmanshoop import feeds such as soya beans, premix and hay from South Africa and Zambia.
Similarly, the inputs used for crop farming, specifically to produce lucerne and maise, are also imported.
The reliance on imported inputs is generally attributed as a significant push factor for high production costs, which is transferred as higher retail prices to consumers, First Capital explained.
Thirdly, the agri-preneurs indicated insufficient expansion capital to develop extra available land and increase production has not made it easier for farmers to expand their production.
“This means most of the land has not been fully utilised to increase production,” the report read.
The assessment has also revealed that entrepreneurs’ lack of collateral deters farmers from accessing funds and government subsidies.
An issue which many entrepreneurs face around the country is that government has introduced a Credit Guarantee Scheme in collaboration with commercial banks, where it provides 60 per cent of the collateral. The borrower and the bank share the rest.
The schemes is yet to take shape as information gradually spreads and the economic outlook improves.
When it comes to starting a business in Keetmanshoop, it takes a maximum of two weeks to complete all the processes that have to do with registering and starting a business.
According to First Capital insight, the municipality introduced a system where all parties involved in the process of registering businesses meet twice a week to review and process applications for fitness certificates.
As well as address challenges hindering the registration process.
This has considerably reduced the cost of doing business in the town, wrote First Capital.
NATIONAL SHEEP MARKETING
For the year so far, total marketing for sheep stands at 247 219, and 204 936 were live export to South Africa, while the remaining (42 283) were slaughtered for local meat and export.
Total marketing of sheep increased by 35.67 per cent YTD, driven by increased live exports and export abattoir slaughtering, while activity by B&C class abattoirs fell by 37.15% YTD.
All the sheep marketed were mostly supplied by the southern region. Out of the 42 283 that were slaughtered for meat, 13 800 were slaughtered for export meat, and butchers slaughtered the rest for local meat.
A2 sheep carcass prices averaged N$80.96/kg in May 2022, the best performance for this year thus far.
At the sheep auction, 20 275 heads were auctioned compared to 29 433 heads of sheep that were marketed at the auction last year.
Most demanded at the auction are sheep lamb Dorper heads. By the end of May 2022, 8 800 head of lamb Dorper were auctioned.
This is, however, a significant decline from 14 526 heads that were auctioned during the same period last year.
In terms of sheep meat imports, the country imports minimally and inconsistently between months.
By May, the country had bought 164 810 kilograms of sheep meat.
The meat is mainly sourced from South Africa, then once or twice from Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands for this year. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
