The agriculture ministry and Namibia’s farmers union are finalising plans to implement a N$100-million fund to boost livestock prices for northern communal farmers.
The Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform are working on the implementation Kuniberth Shamathe of the Northern Communal Areas Livestock Price Equalisation Fund.
Union chief executive Kuniberth Shamathe says the ministry has asked the union to provide input on how the fund should be implemented.
He says the union fully supports the initiative.
“As a farmers union, we are supporting the general idea of establishing fodder production and green schemes and feedlots,” Shamathe says.
The N$100-million fund was approved by the Cabinet in 2024. It aims to reduce the price gap between livestock producers north and south of the veterinary cordon fence (redline).
Last month, agriculture minister Inge Zaamwani told the parliamentary standing committee on urban and rural development and land reform that the government plans to operationalise the fund this year.
The fund was available last year, but was not implemented because of disagreements among the institutions involved.
The government has allocated N$50 million to the fund in the 2026/27 national budget.
The ministry said this is due to non-operational abattoirs, weak meat value chains, poor logistics, limited processing infrastructure, such as feedlots, feeder roads and tanneries, and restricted access to high-value export markets, including the European Union, Norway, China and the United States.
Former NNFU president and Oshana Farmers Union chairperson Jason Emvula says livestock auctions in the northern communal areas (NCAs) are poorly organised because farmers have limited market access.
He says reopening the Eloolo Meatco abattoir would help farmers in the Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshikoto and Oshana regions market their cattle.
“Farmers in the NCAs need support from the government, which is currently not there. We do not have markets for the farmers.
Policies are policies, but people do not eat policies,” Emvula says.
In April, the ministry said only 15% of cattle in the NCAs are sold through the formal market.
