Namibia no longer ‘land of milk and honey’
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Government’s interventions to protect the country’s dairy industry from an imminent death may be too late, as technicalities in the much-awaited Diary Act - which may violate international treaties - are yet to be ironed out.
In recent weeks, the situation has worsened to the point that only seven producers remain operational.
One of these albeit ailing producers is Namibia Dairies' Superfarm at Mariental, one of the biggest employers in the sector.
Roelie Venter, executive manager of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), said there is an urgent need for government intervention and protection of the local industry from closing its doors.
According to him, Namibia produced 24 million litres milk a year until 2018, which has since declined to a critical expected 12 million litres this year.
He said this suffering will impact consumers who will have to fork out more for imported dairy products.
“The most important thing at this point is the draft bill - that has been under discussion between Parliament and line ministry for seven years - must be implemented as soon as possible. I think it is one of the very few options at this stage,” he said.
Hands full
Asked what interventions are on the table while the bill is finalised, agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein said government already has its hands full.
“You see, that is the difficulty government has. There are many shops that close down because of Covid-19. The difficulty now is, if you help one bunch of businesses, what do you do to the others? The state itself is in financial difficulties and we haven’t got the means to help everybody,” he said.
“We have to look at certain provisions in the Act that are not in line with matters government has committed itself to in terms of international agreements. So, we have to look at those provisions and see whether they can go into force like that,” the minister added.
Schlettwein said he is worried that there is an overreliance on government’s unilateral protection, which - in his view - is not fair to the consumer.
“The other hurdle is the mantra of the Act which prescribes protection and unilateral interventions by the minister to protect the industry. But that in itself does not make the industry competitive and the consumer has to pay that bill,” he said.
Competitiveness the answer
According to him, support systems to make local industries more viable and competitive are the true answer, however with a cash-strapped government, this remains a challenge.
“We have suggested to subsidise the industry to some extent to support milk producers… so that they can fend off unfair competition from the south. But now we have some financial difficulties to implement that scheme, but we realise with Covid-19, self-sufficiency is more important than before,” he said.
It will take years to restore the local diary industry to its glory years, even should this bill be realised in time.
Venter said because of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) status of South Africa, local farmers will have to rebuild organically because they cannot import livestock from that country.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Government’s interventions to protect the country’s dairy industry from an imminent death may be too late, as technicalities in the much-awaited Diary Act - which may violate international treaties - are yet to be ironed out.
In recent weeks, the situation has worsened to the point that only seven producers remain operational.
One of these albeit ailing producers is Namibia Dairies' Superfarm at Mariental, one of the biggest employers in the sector.
Roelie Venter, executive manager of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), said there is an urgent need for government intervention and protection of the local industry from closing its doors.
According to him, Namibia produced 24 million litres milk a year until 2018, which has since declined to a critical expected 12 million litres this year.
He said this suffering will impact consumers who will have to fork out more for imported dairy products.
“The most important thing at this point is the draft bill - that has been under discussion between Parliament and line ministry for seven years - must be implemented as soon as possible. I think it is one of the very few options at this stage,” he said.
Hands full
Asked what interventions are on the table while the bill is finalised, agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein said government already has its hands full.
“You see, that is the difficulty government has. There are many shops that close down because of Covid-19. The difficulty now is, if you help one bunch of businesses, what do you do to the others? The state itself is in financial difficulties and we haven’t got the means to help everybody,” he said.
“We have to look at certain provisions in the Act that are not in line with matters government has committed itself to in terms of international agreements. So, we have to look at those provisions and see whether they can go into force like that,” the minister added.
Schlettwein said he is worried that there is an overreliance on government’s unilateral protection, which - in his view - is not fair to the consumer.
“The other hurdle is the mantra of the Act which prescribes protection and unilateral interventions by the minister to protect the industry. But that in itself does not make the industry competitive and the consumer has to pay that bill,” he said.
Competitiveness the answer
According to him, support systems to make local industries more viable and competitive are the true answer, however with a cash-strapped government, this remains a challenge.
“We have suggested to subsidise the industry to some extent to support milk producers… so that they can fend off unfair competition from the south. But now we have some financial difficulties to implement that scheme, but we realise with Covid-19, self-sufficiency is more important than before,” he said.
It will take years to restore the local diary industry to its glory years, even should this bill be realised in time.
Venter said because of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) status of South Africa, local farmers will have to rebuild organically because they cannot import livestock from that country.
[email protected]
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