Meatco’s future hangs in balance

Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein says Meatco is still in the intensive care unit (ICU) and a decision must be taken on whether to terminate life support, or breathe new life into its structures.He made these remarks during his annual staff and stakeholder address.“In the commercial sector, what we see is that Meatco - as the biggest abattoir – has, to a certain extent, failed the farmers, and they have now taken it into their own hands and are developing their own abattoirs.”He said there comes a time when a decision should be made over the future of the company.“And it is a hard decision, whether those resources that we are putting into that limping organisation are well spent or whether we should not use part of it to support farmers.”This is the tough question he is proposing to ministry planners, Schlettwein said.“Those are the hard facts that must come on the table and we must take a decision for the benefit of farmers, for the benefit of the producers.“If there is wastage, if there is leakage, if we are paying [for] other things than supporting production, then I am sceptical whether that support is impactful.“So, that question the planners will answer. But it must be answered quickly because not only is time running out, but money is running out.”Commodity-based tradeRegarding the abattoirs in the north, Schlettwein said with the exception of the Katima Mulilo abattoir, nothing is happening.“Farmers were forced to do it all by themselves, slaughtering under a tree, selling piece by piece and that is not what an efficient support system is. Half of our cattle sit without a market.”He added that they have now developed commodity-based trade and it is working well.The Katima Mulilo abattoir supplies the north, Windhoek and Ghana with meat.“But all the other abattoirs are in mortuaries, not even in ICU.”UrgencyThe minister said high priority and urgency must be placed on the operationalisation of the rest of the abattoirs in the northern communal areas to unlock market opportunities and give greater effect to commodity-based trade.“The ministry - together with all stakeholders, Meatco, the Meat Board of Namibia, farmers and local authorities - must work collaboratively to restore effective production of slaughter-ready cattle and market conditions for the abattoirs countrywide.”He said the equipping of the Rundu abattoir has been successfully completed, and the technical handover to Meatco has been done. The official handover of the abattoir will proceed in the coming weeks.Meanwhile, the minister said the response to the outbreak of various serotypes of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and other infectious diseases has enabled the vaccination of over 234 000 cattle in the infected zone and about 245 062 cattle in high-risk areas of the protection zone.

Meatco’s future hangs in balance

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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Meatco’s future hangs in balance

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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