Poultry producers welcome market share promotion scheme

POULTRY producers have welcomed the Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia’s (LLBPN) plans to introduce a market share promotion scheme to boost local production and reduce the country’s reliance on imports.

Poultry is now a controlled product under the LLPBN, and acting chief executive Goliath Tujendapi says the move aligns with the government’s goals of food self-sufficiency, job creation and economic growth.

Poultry Producers’ Association (PPA) chairperson Louis Kleynhans says this would be beneficial to both the consumer and the producer.

“It is in line with the government’s ‘Growth at Home’ initiative to boost food security through local production,” he says, adding that should there be a repeat of a Covid-like lockdown and borders are closed, the country should be able to feed itself.

Namibia currently produces about 85% of its poultry needs.

Kleynhans says the LLPBN, producers, importers, and other stakeholders will have a monthly review of what is produced locally and what needs to be imported.

“We will know what Namibia needs and how much it produces, and we will be assured of the quality of the products we put on people’s tables,” he says, adding that while the country aims for self-sufficiency, there will always be room for imports.

Tujendapi says under the scheme, importers will be required to buy from local producers before they are allocated quotas to import.

This is intended to boost local production while still allowing controlled imports.

He says the initiative will increase local chicken and egg production, create jobs across the poultry value chain, and improve food security.

Egg producer and member of the PPA management committee Rene Werner says the scheme will have a positive effect on food security and will encourage more investment in the sector.

“We are already producing enough eggs for the country, and we do not need to import,” he says.

Werner says the main imported chicken product is mechanically deboned meat.

Making poultry a controlled product has brought big changes, killing the black market for cheap eggs smuggled from

Zambia, he says, because the LLPBN and other regulators were enforcing the law.

Tujendapi says the LLPBN will oversee the scheme, tighten border controls and curb illegal poultry imports through tighter enforcement.

The LLPBN will also allocate import quotas and monitor compliance.

“Namibia’s poultry sector has already shown strong growth, with increased local production and new capacity coming on stream.

The LLPBN will play a central role in allocating quotas and ensuring the scheme delivers results,” Tujendapi says.

A similar scheme is in operation in the horticulture sector, involving that importers buy from local producers before they can get permits to import produce.

This has helped boost local production and has protected producers from cheap imports.
– email: matthew@namibian.com.na

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