Mariental abattoir to close
Farmers in the Mariental district will have to transport their sheep to Windhoek, Aranos or Keetmanshoop after the closure of the Farmers Meat Market abattoir.
OGONE TLHAGE
Tough economic times have led to the planned closure of the Farmers Meat Market Mariental abattoir, the Hartlief-owned facility said in a statement recently.
With the closure, 70 jobs now hang in the balance while farmers in the Mariental district will have to find new markets for their small stock.
The drought was identified as one of the causes of the closure of the plant, Farmers Meat Market said.
“Due to the severe drought and unfavourable trading conditions in the small-stock industry, the company has made big losses and continues to make these losses. The shareholders of the company cannot sustain these losses and operations at the abattoir must cease,” Farmers Meat Market said.
The company also said that the operating environment it found itself in did not make business viable.
“It is the express opinion of the board that the operating environment for an export-approved abattoir has degenerated to such an extent that the business is no longer viable,” Farmers Meat Market said.
The closure of the abattoir is expected to affect small-stock farmers in the Mariental district adversely, said agricultural economist Wallie Roux.
“The closing of the abattoir at Mariental is an unfortunate development for the small-stock industry, seeing that it will have a negative impact on the small-stock value chain, including FMM workers losing their jobs,” said Roux.
The affected farmers would also have to contend with higher output costs related to transporting their animals to abattoirs in Windhoek, Aranos and Keetmanshoop.
“The impact on farmers in the Mariental district will be that transport costs to an abattoir will increase, may it be to Aranos, Keetmanshoop or Windhoek. Although these abattoirs can accommodate the additional numbers, it will need additional planning and the Mariental small-stock farmers may not always get the slaughter opportunity they applied for,” said Roux.
“The regular customers of FMM will have to build new relationships at another abattoir,” he added.
The abattoir complies with European Union standards and exports to Europe, Norway and South Africa. The abattoir has a slaughter capacity of 260 000 lambs annually.
The closure of the abattoir will be the second in recent times. Meatco has converted its Okahandja abattoir into a cold-storage facility, leaving it to operate only one abattoir based in Windhoek.
Tough economic times have led to the planned closure of the Farmers Meat Market Mariental abattoir, the Hartlief-owned facility said in a statement recently.
With the closure, 70 jobs now hang in the balance while farmers in the Mariental district will have to find new markets for their small stock.
The drought was identified as one of the causes of the closure of the plant, Farmers Meat Market said.
“Due to the severe drought and unfavourable trading conditions in the small-stock industry, the company has made big losses and continues to make these losses. The shareholders of the company cannot sustain these losses and operations at the abattoir must cease,” Farmers Meat Market said.
The company also said that the operating environment it found itself in did not make business viable.
“It is the express opinion of the board that the operating environment for an export-approved abattoir has degenerated to such an extent that the business is no longer viable,” Farmers Meat Market said.
The closure of the abattoir is expected to affect small-stock farmers in the Mariental district adversely, said agricultural economist Wallie Roux.
“The closing of the abattoir at Mariental is an unfortunate development for the small-stock industry, seeing that it will have a negative impact on the small-stock value chain, including FMM workers losing their jobs,” said Roux.
The affected farmers would also have to contend with higher output costs related to transporting their animals to abattoirs in Windhoek, Aranos and Keetmanshoop.
“The impact on farmers in the Mariental district will be that transport costs to an abattoir will increase, may it be to Aranos, Keetmanshoop or Windhoek. Although these abattoirs can accommodate the additional numbers, it will need additional planning and the Mariental small-stock farmers may not always get the slaughter opportunity they applied for,” said Roux.
“The regular customers of FMM will have to build new relationships at another abattoir,” he added.
The abattoir complies with European Union standards and exports to Europe, Norway and South Africa. The abattoir has a slaughter capacity of 260 000 lambs annually.
The closure of the abattoir will be the second in recent times. Meatco has converted its Okahandja abattoir into a cold-storage facility, leaving it to operate only one abattoir based in Windhoek.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article