Govt scrambles to revive Kavango Cattle Ranch
State of affairs ‘disheartening’
The ranch's business plan consists of four pillars: An abattoir and meat processing facility, fodder production, game reserve as well as the construction of labour housing.
The environment ministry has agreed to co-finance the rehabilitation of water points at the Kavango Cattle Ranch (KCR) with its trade counterpart to address game and livestock that have died of thirst.
The ranch is a government parastatal conglomerate farm administered by the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA). It is approximately 168 900 hectares in size and is comprised of over 40 individual farms primarily for livestock production.
Trade minister Lucia Iipumbu described the undesirable state of affairs at the ranch as disheartening following a visit last week.
She said the ministry - under which NIDA and by extension the KCR’s operational mandates fall - has seen it as prudent to conduct an assessment at macro-level to devise appropriate policy interventions.
“The upgrading and optimisation of the ranch was identified as a flagship project for value addition in the Growth at Home execution strategy for industrialisation.”
Iipumbu added that the ministry developed a business plan for KCR, which was completed and endorsed in 2017. The endorsement led to ensuring its programming within the ministry’s development budget portfolio under the National Planning Commission.
Public investment needed
The business plan is premised around four business and development areas: An abattoir and meat processing facility, fodder production, game reserve as well as ensuring the construction of labour housing.
“This business and development pivot is meant to ensure the creation of private sector opportunities. However, given the state that KCR as an asset was in 2016, the business plan correctly identified the need for additional public investment to bring the facility to some level of development to ensure the optimisation of private sector investment attraction.”
Iipumbu added that the resultant investment pertains to substantial fencing work, rehabilitation of water points and de-bushing work.
According to her, these measures entail a delicate balancing act to ensure a viable elephant management strategy whilst work is ongoing, but also mainstreaming micro, small and medium enterprises employment opportunities.
The environment and trade ministries have secured all necessary internal approvals and endorsement, the minister said. To fast-track the wildlife reserve option, they will finalise an agreement to ensure a management plan is in place to support both breeding and nature-based tourism enterprise development.
The ranch is a government parastatal conglomerate farm administered by the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA). It is approximately 168 900 hectares in size and is comprised of over 40 individual farms primarily for livestock production.
Trade minister Lucia Iipumbu described the undesirable state of affairs at the ranch as disheartening following a visit last week.
She said the ministry - under which NIDA and by extension the KCR’s operational mandates fall - has seen it as prudent to conduct an assessment at macro-level to devise appropriate policy interventions.
“The upgrading and optimisation of the ranch was identified as a flagship project for value addition in the Growth at Home execution strategy for industrialisation.”
Iipumbu added that the ministry developed a business plan for KCR, which was completed and endorsed in 2017. The endorsement led to ensuring its programming within the ministry’s development budget portfolio under the National Planning Commission.
Public investment needed
The business plan is premised around four business and development areas: An abattoir and meat processing facility, fodder production, game reserve as well as ensuring the construction of labour housing.
“This business and development pivot is meant to ensure the creation of private sector opportunities. However, given the state that KCR as an asset was in 2016, the business plan correctly identified the need for additional public investment to bring the facility to some level of development to ensure the optimisation of private sector investment attraction.”
Iipumbu added that the resultant investment pertains to substantial fencing work, rehabilitation of water points and de-bushing work.
According to her, these measures entail a delicate balancing act to ensure a viable elephant management strategy whilst work is ongoing, but also mainstreaming micro, small and medium enterprises employment opportunities.
The environment and trade ministries have secured all necessary internal approvals and endorsement, the minister said. To fast-track the wildlife reserve option, they will finalise an agreement to ensure a management plan is in place to support both breeding and nature-based tourism enterprise development.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article