Meatco and Ministry to meet more often

THE Ministry of Agriculture and the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) have agreed to hold regular monthly meetings in order to keep each other updated on matters relating to agriculture and meat production.

The two parties held a closed-door meeting on Tuesday at the request of Meatco to discuss se-veral topics, but were tight-lipped about the details.’I can tell you that we from Meatco and the Ministry have agreed to hold a two-day workshop soon to delve deeper into various issues in the meat sector and that information flows and co-operation between the Ministry and Meatco should improve,’ said Arne Gressmann, Board Chairman of Meatco. ‘We also agreed that both parties will hold regular monthly meetings from now on to update each other on different topics,’ Gressmann told The Namibian. He declined to make any further comments. Although Gressmann would not say which matters needed attention at the proposed two-day workshop, it is known that communal and commercial farmers alike are unhappy about the export levy for live sheep, low prices paid at some abattoirs and the shrinking of the national cattle herd as more and more farmers cease activities.They also fear that Namibian meat might lose lucrative markets in Europe should Namibia not sign an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.Namibia has an annual export quota of 11 000 tons of prime beef cuts to the EU.Meat from the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) is exported to South Africa. Live animals from commercial farms are sold to feedlots in South Africa, mainly in the Northern Cape.About six years ago Government reduced live sheep exports to South Africa by prescribing that for every live sheep sold to that country, six sheep must be sold to Namibian abattoirs.