farmers market |
The local meat
export industry is to lose a gem in the mainstay of Namibian sheep
farming when the Farmers Meat Market's Mariental abattoir shuts its
gates on September 30.
Directors of the
state-of-the-art EU-approved abattoir, which exports lamb and springbok
meat to Europe, Norway and South Africa, have confirmed to Farmers Forum
that the private company's proud record since 1998 will come to an end
at the end of this month.
The export abattoir
complies with world food standard requirements and therefore adheres to
international traceability and health standards. The Namibian livestock
producer formed an integral part of the company and was the primary
link in the value-adding chain of the meat industry.
But the tide has
changed and tough economic times, coupled with consecutive droughts, the
non-availability of slaughter-ready sheep and low sheep prices all
played a part in the decision to close the facility.
The Mariental
Abattoir has a slaughter capacity of 260,000 lambs annually and
slaughters about 12,000 springbok yearly to supply customers in South
Africa and abroad. Lamb meat is de-boned for the European and Norwegian
markets under strict food safety and hygiene standards.
The financially
unstable Mariental Abattoir, which falls under the Farmers' Meat Market,
employed some 150 employees and the closure came about due to it
operating below capacity. As a result, it was running at a financial
loss.
Executive
chairperson Christo van Niekerk says all stakeholders have already been
informed about the closure due to economic reasons.
"Due to severe
drought and the unfavourable trading conditions in the small stock
industry in Namibia, the company has made big losses and continues to
make those losses. The shareholders of the company cannot sustain these
losses and operations at the abattoir will cease at the end of the
month," van Niekerk said.
"Through an
unfortunate confluence of events, it is the expressed 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,"
he noted, further adding that the company has invested substantially in
the world class export approved abattoir and has created job
opportunities for many Namibians in the process.
It is a sad reality
that due to a lack of support for local value addition they have to bid
their producers, employees and stakeholders farewell. Retrenchment
packages and all salary payments will be dealt with before the closure
on September 30. The Farmers' Meat Market had positioned itself by
investing heavily in its Mariental abattoir in the form of a N$4 million
de-boning plant some ten years ago. It is estimated that the abattoir
slaughtered at less than half of its capacity over the past year.
During the same
period, some 80 percent of all marketable sheep left the country on the
hoof. No export levy is imposed on the export of live 'slaughterable'
small stock. This means abattoirs are not able to pay a competitive
price to producers and therefore the vast number of slaughterable small
stock leave Namibia on the hoof.
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