Livestock farmers in the Zambezi region have accused the Zambezi Meat Corporation (Zamco) of failing to pay for 770 head of cattle collected since June.
Zambezi Progressive Farmers representative Albertus Kulobone says Zamco had promised to pay farmers within four to seven days after receiving their cattle.
“Zamco has collected about 770 [head of] cattle so far from local farmers, but none of them have been paid to date,” Kulobone said during an interview on Desert FM this week.
He said farmers do not know what has happened to the cattle.
“The livestock that they took from the farmers, we don’t know whether they are still in quarantine or they have been slaughtered,” he said.
The payment concerns come as the Katima Mulilo abattoir remains closed after the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) handed its operations to Zamco in June.
Meatco had operated the abattoir since 2021 under a five-year management agreement initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform.
During that period, Meatco bought and slaughtered about 17 160 head of cattle and paid about N$139.4 million directly to local producers.
Kulobone said farmers started hearing from Meatco employees that operations would be handed over to Zamco. He said farmers were not properly consulted about the change.
“There is actually too much secrecy around the whole issue because Zamco has not been communicating with farmers, and that’s what made a group of us concerned and worried,” he said.
The handover was initially expected to take place in April, but the period was extended until the end of May before Zamco took over in June.
Kulobone said farmers do not oppose a change in the abattoir’s operator but want it to remain operational.
“Yes, we have nothing against whoever takes the abattoir and runs the business, but what we want to see is business continuity,” he said.
He said the current situation is affecting farmers’ ability to meet household expenses.
“We had farmers who confirmed that, because they couldn’t sell, they couldn’t pay for their sons’ and daughters’ school fees and university fees, and some had to drop out because of that,” Kulobone said.
Zambezi Progressive Farmers held a peaceful demonstration on Friday and handed over a petition calling on prime minister Elijah Ngurare to intervene.
Kulobone said farmers have also raised their concerns with the agriculture ministry through the regional governor’s office and have written to the National Assembly speaker.
“So this thing is really worrisome and it is affecting the livelihood of the local farmers,” he said.
Zamco has denied claims that it has failed to pay livestock farmers in the Zambezi region for cattle bought since June.
The company says it opened the Katima Mulilo abattoir on 1 July.
Zamco says it bought more than 300 head of cattle from farmers and has paid most of the producers, however, it could not provide the exact number of farmers who are still waiting for payment.
“We bought an estimate of 300 [head of] cattle, of which we are only left with less than 50 people who are not paid and we are going to settle this week,” the company says.
It says farmers should have approached its offices to verify the payment situation before making claims.
