Sheep farmers still not happy

THE future of the mutton industry still looks uncertain, despite Government’s decision to ease restrictions on live exports of small livestock for two months.

This was the view of sheep farmers who attended a meeting at Keetmanshoop on Tuesday. The aim of the meeting was to find solutions to the negative impact the Government-imposed export restrictions had on the sector.The aim of the policy was to have more sheep slaughtered at local abattoirs to promote local value addition.The policy restricted sheep farmers to exporting one animal on the hoof to South African abattoirs for every three sheep slaughtered locally.But with the easing on export restrictions farmers can now apply to the Meat Board for an export permit to enable them to export 20 per cent of the total number of sheep exported between April last year and May this year.In addition, farmers can also apply for a live-export permit if local abattoirs cannot give them a slaughter opportunity within 21 days.Despite the relief granted by the two-month interim arrangement, most sheep farmers are still pushing for a free-market system.They say they are getting the short end of the stick, since South African market prices are higher than what local abattoirs pay them for their sheep.”The Government export restrictions are not the problem here, but the prices local abattoirs offer producers,” one farmer said.As a short-term solution, farmers agreed to enlist PriceWaterhouseCoopers as consultants to embark on an expert study to come up with an independent, unbiased and realistic pricing mechanism for the mutton industry.The farmers also took a swipe at the agricultural unions, claiming they had failed to defend the interests of sheep farmers.They proposed the establishment of specialised union or association to cater for the small-stock farming sector.”The existing agriculture structures are not capable to carry the sheep producers’ interest through,” farmer Dougal Bassingthwaighte said.”If they could have, there would be no need for us sheep producers to call one meeting after another,” he said angrily.Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) President Raimer Von Hase defended the existing structures, though.”There is no need to establish a union or association, since existing structures fully cater for the needs of the sheep farmers,” he said.Former NAU President Jan de Wet, who also addressed the sheep farmers, said the Government-imposed export restrictions had sown the seeds of division among the agricultural unions.”Government has harshly implemented the policy instead of encouraging sheep producers to slaughter locally,” he said.The aim of the meeting was to find solutions to the negative impact the Government-imposed export restrictions had on the sector.The aim of the policy was to have more sheep slaughtered at local abattoirs to promote local value addition.The policy restricted sheep farmers to exporting one animal on the hoof to South African abattoirs for every three sheep slaughtered locally.But with the easing on export restrictions farmers can now apply to the Meat Board for an export permit to enable them to export 20 per cent of the total number of sheep exported between April last year and May this year.In addition, farmers can also apply for a live-export permit if local abattoirs cannot give them a slaughter opportunity within 21 days.Despite the relief granted by the two-month interim arrangement, most sheep farmers are still pushing for a free-market system.They say they are getting the short end of the stick, since South African market prices are higher than what local abattoirs pay them for their sheep.”The Government export restrictions are not the problem here, but the prices local abattoirs offer producers,” one farmer said.As a short-term solution, farmers agreed to enlist PriceWaterhouseCoopers as consultants to embark on an expert study to come up with an independent, unbiased and realistic pricing mechanism for the mutton industry.The farmers also took a swipe at the agricultural unions, claiming they had failed to defend the interests of sheep farmers.They proposed the establishment of specialised union or association to cater for the small-stock farming sector.”The existing agriculture structures are not capable to carry the sheep producers’ interest through,” farmer Dougal Bassingthwaighte said.”If they could have, there would be no need for us sheep producers to call one meeting after another,” he said angrily.Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) President Raimer Von Hase defended the existing structures, though.”There is no need to establish a union or association, since existing structures fully cater for the needs of the sheep farmers,” he said.Former NAU President Jan de Wet, who also addressed the sheep farmers, said the Government-imposed export restrictions had sown the seeds of division among the agricultural unions.”Government has harshly implemented the policy instead of encouraging sheep producers to slaughter locally,” he said.