Slight relief for sheep farmers

COMMUNAL and commercial sheep farmers have been granted permission to export live sheep to South Africa, but only for two months.

The Meat Board will handle sheep exports until July 15, states a Government Gazette published last week. The new arrangements are with immediate effect and follow a meeting of sheep producers at Keetmanshoop on Tuesday.They claimed the Government ratio of one sheep exported for every six slaughtered locally was causing them losses as high as N$100 per sheep, as prices at local abattoirs are lower than in South Africa.The Government instruction clearly states that local abattoirs may not be disadvantaged, however.In terms of the latest regulation, export permits may not exceed 20 per cent of the number of sheep a farmer has marketed locally in the past year.The quotas will be issued in the farmer’s name and farmers are not allowed to trade slaughtering quotas.”If a producer cannot obtain a slaughter turn within 21 days of requesting such turn from at least two abattoirs of his or her choice, he or she may be granted a permit to export a number of sheep equal to the number of sheep for which he or she required such slaughter turn,” the Meat Board announced at the end of last week.Scarce grazing in southern Namibia has forced commercial and communal farmers to send more sheep to abattoirs, which cannot cope with the increased supply.In another move, the Meat Board has finally heeded the call of sheep producers to undertake a comprehensive study of Namibia’s small livestock industry.It will cover production, demands, local slaughtering capacity, live exports, the export levy of 15 per cent that has been in force since June 2004 and value addition.The Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO) and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) requested the Meat Board months ago to investigate, evaluate and advise on the implementation of the Small Stock Marketing Scheme in relation to Government’s value-addition goals.PriceWaterhouseCoopers will undertake the study, with Professor Kobus Laubscher of the Free State University also part of the team.The new arrangements are with immediate effect and follow a meeting of sheep producers at Keetmanshoop on Tuesday.They claimed the Government ratio of one sheep exported for every six slaughtered locally was causing them losses as high as N$100 per sheep, as prices at local abattoirs are lower than in South Africa.The Government instruction clearly states that local abattoirs may not be disadvantaged, however.In terms of the latest regulation, export permits may not exceed 20 per cent of the number of sheep a farmer has marketed locally in the past year.The quotas will be issued in the farmer’s name and farmers are not allowed to trade slaughtering quotas.”If a producer cannot obtain a slaughter turn within 21 days of requesting such turn from at least two abattoirs of his or her choice, he or she may be granted a permit to export a number of sheep equal to the number of sheep for which he or she required such slaughter turn,” the Meat Board announced at the end of last week.Scarce grazing in southern Namibia has forced commercial and communal farmers to send more sheep to abattoirs, which cannot cope with the increased supply.In another move, the Meat Board has finally heeded the call of sheep producers to undertake a comprehensive study of Namibia’s small livestock industry.It will cover production, demands, local slaughtering capacity, live exports, the export levy of 15 per cent that has been in force since June 2004 and value addition.The Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO) and the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) requested the Meat Board months ago to investigate, evaluate and advise on the implementation of the Small Stock Marketing Scheme in relation to Government’s value-addition goals.PriceWaterhouseCoopers will undertake the study, with Professor Kobus Laubscher of the Free State University also part of the team.