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07:11Last update on: 13 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Tue 13 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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LETTERS -
| 2013-07-26
‘Local’ Milk is a Pure Luxury
YOUR report in The Namibian of Thursday 18 July 2013, presented us the sad fact that economical milk production in our dry country is not possible on a sustainable basis. Thus, we can say it is a luxury, most expensive and risky and, as with Air Namibia, we should do away with it.
Milk is not scarce and its distribution is easy; competition is fierce in a free market. Many foreigners will continue competing to supply Namibia with milk – as they do now – and we will not see the price shocks because of that. The government must, as an urgent duty, provide the necessary protection for the consumer against high prices. Families need milk and they need milk at affordable prices. Putting barriers to counter the free importation of cheap milk – as proposed by the Namibian Dairy Industry – would be suicidal for our government!
Our history is evidence enough to conclude that milk farming in Namibia is a risky and unsustainable business. Therefore, we consumers have the right to ask why a farmer wants to compete in an open market if he already knows he is not and will never be competitive.
The government has to take care of the many poor and only if, and when, they are cared for, may we allow the government to take care of the few milk producers. That is a basic law for any democracy.
However, let us consider the issue of adding value to our agricultural products - milk in this context. If milk is expensive, if the costs are prohibitive to produce the basic product and sell it at competitive prices and the milk farmer nevertheless would like to go on with his business, he should investigate the possibilities to produce fine cheese and other products made from his milk, this to keep him in business in a niche market locally and internationally.
Today the world is open for business, so no one will automatically survive competition. The time to be able to close borders has irrevocably gone; we are part of the international economy. We chose to go this way and many, especially the not so well off among us are grateful for that. Namibia cannot only ‘take’, Namibia has, at times, to ‘give’ too.
Rudolfine A Seller
By E-mail
Milk is not scarce and its distribution is easy; competition is fierce in a free market. Many foreigners will continue competing to supply Namibia with milk – as they do now – and we will not see the price shocks because of that. The government must, as an urgent duty, provide the necessary protection for the consumer against high prices. Families need milk and they need milk at affordable prices. Putting barriers to counter the free importation of cheap milk – as proposed by the Namibian Dairy Industry – would be suicidal for our government!
Our history is evidence enough to conclude that milk farming in Namibia is a risky and unsustainable business. Therefore, we consumers have the right to ask why a farmer wants to compete in an open market if he already knows he is not and will never be competitive.
The government has to take care of the many poor and only if, and when, they are cared for, may we allow the government to take care of the few milk producers. That is a basic law for any democracy.
However, let us consider the issue of adding value to our agricultural products - milk in this context. If milk is expensive, if the costs are prohibitive to produce the basic product and sell it at competitive prices and the milk farmer nevertheless would like to go on with his business, he should investigate the possibilities to produce fine cheese and other products made from his milk, this to keep him in business in a niche market locally and internationally.
Today the world is open for business, so no one will automatically survive competition. The time to be able to close borders has irrevocably gone; we are part of the international economy. We chose to go this way and many, especially the not so well off among us are grateful for that. Namibia cannot only ‘take’, Namibia has, at times, to ‘give’ too.
Rudolfine A Seller
By E-mail
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