Wezi Tjaronda
14 April 2008
Windhoek — Unless Namibia resolves issues surrounding the veterinary cordon fence (VCF), the future of the beef industry will remain in doubt, a working paper on "Veterinary Science, Transboundary Animal Diseases and Markets: Pathways for Policy in Namibia", has said.
The paper, which results from a study jointly conducted by Dr Alec Bishi, State Veterinarian in the Epidemiology Section and Dr Jessey Kamwi, Chief Veterinarian: Veterinary Public Health in the Directorate of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, says while it is important to consider the technical and economic issues associated with the red line, "the underlying agenda is the need to resolve the political and historical issues surroun-ding the veterinary cordon fence in Namibia".
It said the status quo was not sustainable in the long term as it risks being overtaken by events. It suggests that some parts of the northern communal areas (NCA), especially parts of Kunene in the west of the northern communal areas, have not experienced a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak for 30 years and should be included in the foot-and-mouth disease-free zone.
"The mainstream industry cannot continue to benefit alone at the expense of the smallholder farmers in the NCA. They could invest part of their profits in assisting in improving the disease status of the NCA," said the working paper, which was one of the research papers presented at a workshop on "Transboundary Animal Disease and Market Access: Future Options for the Beef Industry in Southern Africa in South Africa", last week.
Recent research suggests practical options to unlock the potential of the southern African livestock industry and help millions lift themselves out of poverty through trade. These new options for livestock standards and market access will allow farmers to export safe, high quality products to lucrative international markets without increasing the risk of spreading diseases such as foot-and-mouth, said a press release from Steps Centre.
The research is the culmination of an 18-month study supported by the Livestock for Life programme of the Wellcome Trust and coordinated by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. Studies were also done in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.
The veterinary cordon fence, commonly known as the 'red line', was erected in the early 1960s to separate the foot-and-mouth disease and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia-free zone areas of the south and the north - predominantly occupied by communal farmers.
But since independence in 1990, the Government has been trying to integrate the communal areas north of the red line into one economic unit with the more commercial south/central areas. Due to the separation, the furthest the meat from the northern communal areas can go is the South African market, while meat emanating from south of the veterinary cordon fence, which is also regarded as the commercial farming area, is exported overseas.
To realise the benefits of the foot-and-mouth disease and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia-free status in the two sectors, the paper said the Government has undertaken a number of activities such as developing infrastructure, modernising production methods in rangeland management and feeding, an approach that involves rangeland re-organisation such as decongestion of certain areas, setting up commercial farm units in virgin land in communal areas and resettling people on commercial farms.
However, the main strategic focus of the current government policy is to move the veterinary cordon fence to the Angolan border.
Since early 1990, when the first attempt was made to erect a fence, 18 years on the red line still exists.
The report said the whole programme of translocating the fence could be overtaken by events especially with the expiry of the Lome Convention and the liberalisation of global markets under the World Trade Organisation, which will open Namibia to competition.
Namibia like other countries exporting to the European Union market, adheres to stringent SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) requirements, lack of which could make it unattractive to invest further in zoo sanitary measures.
These, said Bishi, require a change in the step that the county has taken and also in policy thinking.
"While the economic and technical issues are important, the underlying agenda is the need to resolve the political and historical issues surrounding the veterinary cordon fence in Namibia," he said.
Some of the potential options that can be considered as alternatives in dealing with livestock marketing in the northern communal areas include maintaining the status quo, World Organisation for Animal Health freedom with vaccination, South African market access, commodity based trade, new regional markets such Angola and the DRC and new international markets in the Middle East and the Far East.
The paper notes that although at the centre of all lies historical, technical, developmental, social and economical and political issues which appear to be causing the delays in registering progress in marketing and social development, there have also been bureaucratic obstacles of the agreed programmes.
It notes that Namibia has strong institutions such as Meatco, the Meat Board of Namibia, veterinary and agricultural extension services and farmers representative bodies, prevailing opportunities that opened up with the prevailing peace in neighbouring Angola, and the possibility of pursuing other less stringent markets than those required in the EU.
The delays in progress, the paper suggests, can be that the fear of disrupting the status quo could result in disease outbreaks in areas south of the veterinary cordon fence, leading to loss of established markets or because of bureaucratic inertia.
Although the fears may be well founded because the disease situation in southern Angola has not been resolved, Bishi says economic benefits of the interventions to improve the animal health status of the NCA may not be guaranteed as farmers may not necessarily respond positively to marketing opportunities especially when commercialisation and modernisation of production methods such as grazing and water issues are not addressed.
Statistics of 2001 indicate that the NCA had 1.1 million cattle compared to 0.7 million in the south of the veterinary cordon fence.
The paper concludes that although the issue of expanding the foot-and-mouth disease-free zone is contentious, "a clear and unequivocal position on the way forward on the issue needs to be determined and time frames for whatever is agreed upon must be established".
The research has found that African farmers are missing out on a global boom in demand for meat products because of out-of-date international regulations. Africa contributes about two percent of global trade in livestock products.
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