Kelp Blue cuts jobs due to fertiliser approval fight

Kelp Blue Dawn Aquaculture has started with retrenchments after a four-year battle with the government to get its fertiliser registered.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the company announces that managing director Fabian Shaanika will be leaving the company on 30 December.

His departure follows a company-wide organisational restructuring process, the statement reads.

“This restructuring forms part of a series of retrenchments over the past two years, driven largely by the company’s ongoing challenge in securing product registration for sale in Namibia since 2021,” it says.

The company cultivates 30 hectares of giant kelp and produces more than 20 kilolitres of its sustainably manufactured fertiliser each month.

The fertiliser is made from various species of marine algae and is used to enrich soil and promote plant growth.

Earlier this year, Kelp Blue took the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Land Reform to court over its refusal to register the company’s locally produced organic seaweed-based fertiliser.

According to documents filed at the High Court, the company is asking the court to declare the agriculture ministry’s decision, communicated in a letter dated 13 February, as unlawful, irrational and a breach of the Constitution, which guarantees fair and reasonable administrative conduct.

The company is asking the court to set aside the decision taken by the executive director or the registrar.

It is also asking the court to declare that the registrar has no such powers, or to review and set aside the decision refusing the registration of Kelp Blue’s fertiliser as unlawful.

In the ministry’s rejection letter dated 13 February, it was stated that missing certificates, lab results, product labels, and registration documentation were reasons for refusal.

The letter states: “Your application was unsuccessful due to a certificate of analysis and laboratory results from an accredited laboratory for the trial conducted in Namibia not being attached, product label and material safety data sheet were not attached, product registration from the country of origin or importer was not attached, and the registration of the processing sterilising plant is also subject to the outcome of the final efficacy trial results of the biostimulant fertiliser product registration.”

Shaanika in his founding affidavit says all the required trials were completed and submitted, with data provided by the University of Namibia, and that certificates of analysis, microbial test results and product safety sheets were included in earlier submissions.

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