Agriculture Chamber meets Mutorwa

THE newly established Chamber of Agriculture of Namibia (CAN) held its first formal meeting with Agriculture Minister John Mutorwa last week.
CAN was established to serve as mouthpiece on national agricultural matters for the private sector.

The Chamber will mainly concentrate on policy aspects whilst the various sectors will have the opportunity to negotiate with the Minister about sector-specific matters. Mutorwa clearly indicated that even though the aim of the CAN was to serve as mouthpiece for the private agriculture sector, he was still approachable for all individual organisations.According to the latest newsletter of the Namibia Agriculture Union (NAU), CAN informed the Minister that the private agricultural sector, in cooperation with Government, was about to establish an Agricultural Research Council (ARC). However, setting up the ARC was delayed because the Act on Research, Science and Technology of 2004 has still not been implemented. ‘Minister Mutorwa immediately undertook to approach Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba to find out the reasons for the delay in the implementation of this Act, as this also delays the establishment of the ARC,’ the newsletter stated. During last week’s meeting with Mutorwa the Chamber informed the Minister that the formal establishment of the Woodland Management Council (WMC) was also delayed. Permanent Secretary Andrew Ndishishi, who like Deputy Minister Isak Katali also attended the meeting, said he would follow this up as the WMC has to be established in terms of the Forestry Act.The chairman of CAN is Gernot Eggert, who also chairs the Agronomic Board of Namibia. Other CAN members are representatives from the Meat Board, Agronomic Board, Karakul Board, the three agricultural unions, AgriBank, the commercial banks and Nepru. Meanwhile, as a new step towards a scientific approach to cattle breeding, Mutorwa launched the creation of a bull semen station for Namibia at a Bonsmara Farmers’ Day in Otjiwarongo last Thursday. This station will be known as Namibia CryoGenetics and will be built at Otjiwarongo soon. The purpose of this facility will be to make superior cattle genetic material available for local and international markets.Dr Axel Hartmann of the Otjiwarongo Veterinary Clinic is the mastermind behind this initiative and will be assisted by local and international experts to ensure that only the best quality genetic material available in Namibia is used. These experts include Danie Bosman from South Africa, Kiep Lepen and Barend Dorfling from Agra, Willie Grobler from Feedmaster and Dr Arthur Baggot-Smith, a local veterinarian and stud breeder. According to Mutorwa, this initiative will go a long way towards making superior genetic material available to Namibia’s communal and emerging farmers at affordable prices.