By: Envaalde Matheus
The Zambezi regional governor Lawrence Sampofu has appealed to farmers in the region to work with the directorate of veterinary services and comply with restrictions and regulations put up whenever there is an outbreak to ensure that they maintain the health of the livestock in the region.
The reason is to ensure that outbreaks do not hinder farming in the region and, more importantly, to avoid the spread of diseases.
Sampofu said this while reacting to the announcement from the agriculture, water and land reform ministry that it will construct a meat processing plant at Katima Mulilo. The town has availed a five-hectare piece of land for the project.
The ministry pointed out that the primal objective of the project is to promote entrepreneurship and enhance the livelihood of Northern Communal Areas (NCA) livestock farming communities.
“We received that message with both hands. Our farmers have been struggling to have a market. We have the abattoir, which was used by Meatco and local farmers, but Meatco withdrew, and Samco came on board. But since the abattoir is there, we need to have a meat processing plant to avoid exporting raw meat,” he said.
The new meat processing plant is expected to add value to the meat.
He said the meat processing plant would help create jobs in the region. “Last month, we sent 29 tons of meat to Angola. Last week we sent 28 tons of meat, this week 26 tons to Angola, and of May, we exported meat to Ghana, so this means we have a market,” he said. “If we don’t process this meat locally, we are exporting the jobs outside Namibia.”
The construction of the Meat Processing Plant will cost N$35 million. It is among the significant activities funded by the European Union (EU) through the Eleventh European Development Fund, which includes financing the construction of the Katima Mulilo quarantine facility and upgrading the Sachinga Livestock Development Centre that will be equipped with a Satellite Artificial Insemination facility in the Zambezi Region.
Local farmers in the region said this is an excellent opportunity for them, and it has been long anticipated. “This comes at the right time when farmers are trying to generate income and create jobs,” said one of the farmers from the Zambezi region.
He said the meat processing would add value to the local meat as every output will be observed from there.
“We have never experienced the sale of corned beef. The will be a certain number of cattle that will be required to be slaughtered just for corned meat, for the butchery, for export, etcetera,” he said.
He said they appreciate the EU, the main funders of the initiative, for recognizing their need to have a meat processing plant in the Zambezi region.
Sampofu said the project is expected to kick off soon this year since the money is already available. “We are waiting for the minister to come for the groundbreaking before we kick off with the facility’s construction,” he said.
Email: envaalde@thevillager.com.na
