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Namibia: Meatco's Scheme Pays Off
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New Era (Windhoek)
24 April 2008
Posted to the web 24 April 2008
Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek
About 4000 potential slaughter cattle have been procured under the Meatco Financing Scheme, which aims to raise weaners as slaughter-ready cattle.
Meatco in conjunction with the Namibia National Farmers Union and the Meat Board last year launched a farm feeding initiative to address the increasing number of cattle that leave Namibia on the hoof.
The project, still in its pilot phase, aims to support the Government's policy of value addition by retaining more weaners in the country. Statistics indicate that 200000 animals leave Namibia every year for South African feedlots.
The project will also increase throughput at local Meatco abattoirs and create a larger local market for locally produced weaners as well as address the problems of underutilisation of farmland for beef production.
Meatco has seen a decrease in the number of cattle delivered at its abattoirs since some 12 years ago. Last year, the company said 2006 was the worst with cattle numbers decreasing to 110000 from 185000 in 1986 and 138000 in 2005, especially in commercial areas of the south.
Meatco has signed an agreement with the First National Bank and Bank Windhoek while negotiations are underway with Nedbank and Standard Bank to get involved in the financing scheme. The meat exporter will also present its project to Agribank for possible financing.
Meatco's communications department this week said 40 applications from all farming sectors have been processed with the FNB during the pilot phase and await approval.
The producers have to meet criteria, which include general management practices, available grazing, veterinary practices, infrastructure and genetics. On the whole, the producers should be able to raise weaners as slaughter cattle, should financial assistance become available.
Project Manager, Heiner Böhme, said the project had exceeded all expectations as the company was overwhelmed with inquiries about the project since its announcement in November last year.
The applications, which Meatco received as part of the FNB pilot phase will be finalised and concluded before new applications can be considered with the bank.
Meatco said a pilot phase would be conducted with all the banks involved in the scheme and once proven successful it will be implemented. Each pilot phase will involve 20 participants. The phase with the FNB is scheduled to end in June.
The beneficiaries of the project are weaner producers who will be offered an alternative market for their animals and all the people in the value chain after the weaner has been produced, which includes specialised backgrounders and finishers, animal feed manufacturers, financiers, marketing agents, transporters and production in put suppliers.
The project has eight proposed beef production and financing models based on weaner production, which are based on weaner production, specialised backgrounding and finishing.
An analysis of the models has shown that the weaner to ox model has indicated that although buying and selling prices have an effect on the farmers' income before tax, the growth per day per animal is by far the most contributing factor when considering income.
Böhme said a change of 50 cents in the buying and selling price could influence the income by 22 and 24 percent respectively, while an increase or decrease of a mere 50 grammes per animal per day could influence the income by 41 percent.
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"This shows that valuable information can be given to the farmer at the end of each project which can assist him or her in informed decision-making seeing that the information will be based on his or her unique circumstance," he said.
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