Poultry and Dairy sectors share information
The Namibia Trade Forum collaborated with the Agriculture Trade Forum, the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation and SME Development and hosted an information sharing session on Poultry and Dairy sector growth earlier this week.
The goal of the information sharing session was to raise awareness on the “Sector Growth Strategy”under the “Growth at Home” initiative and also to get stakeholders input on industrialising and development of the sectors.
Maria Immanuel from the Trade Forum outlined that the poultry industry is in the infant stages and with one key player, Namibia Poultry Industry(NPI) that produces close to 3500 tons per months which supplies 50% of the local demand.
Immanuel invited small poultry producers to take part in farming initiatives to meet local supply constraints as the market is still lucrative and and also encouraged local businesses to get into feed lots for chickens.
According to Immanuel, the quantitative restrictions imposed by the government also failed due to low domestic supply therefore, import quotas were raised from 900 tons to 1500 tons per month
Dr.Micheal Humavindu who is spearheading the “Sector Growth Strategy,” from the ministry outlined the role of the ministry on how to grow and guide the initiative.
He said, “the sector must become industrialized as per the industrial policy. The aim of the sector growth is to enhance domestic value chains, upgrade manufacturing facilities and create employment in the sector”.
According to Humavindu,the sector growth will have to monitor, evaluate,analyse and carry out nationwide workshops in order to asses market demand and activities and also to achieve their goal.
The session was attended by over 160 participants from civil society and the business community as well as key role players in the related industries. Throughout the course of the programme about 30 private sector or business representatives registered themselves as well as committee members and they will be available to make technical contributions.
The business community suggested that the ministry should divide the businesses and classify them as either entry level, medium or large corporations. This method is proposed to be convenient when ministry wants to target or customize solutions that are experience at different companies in the sector, with reference to the equipment aid scheme and the sector growth strategy.
They also recommended the government to reach out to poultry farmers in other regions and urged the government to consider protecting the sector. The community also pointed out that they experience a lack vaccinations for chickens.
As the business sector expressed their desire for more statistics they also urged government to pay attention to egg production and to consider protecting this sector furthermore, suggesting that the Ministry of Lands consider allocating land to poultry producers and not only cattle farmers as they do not occupy a lot of space.
Key retailers and distributors mentioned that due to the restrictions on value added poultry products their stock levels remain low as the local producer does not meet demand and these effects their clients. Therefore, the government should consider a reasonable approach before cutting down on imports.
The Ministry and NTF made a contact database of all the attendees at the information session as well else those absent and will be keep them up to date on the next plan of action.
