Windhoek — The upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa is viewed by many around the world, especially in Africa, as an opportunity of a lifetime, as it is the first time in history that the event reaches Africa.

Hosts South Africa will benefit from foreign currency and its hospitality and tourism industry will immensely gain from the venture.

A lot of opportunities are cited for Africa, for neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, especially in tourism.

There is expectation that the international football community travelling to South Africa will result in a surge of tourism numbers in SADC countries.

Government has, under special projects, availed N$10 million to the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) in order to optimise on the opportunity.

However, the mega event could also spell a lot of problems for countries like Namibia, which is heavily dependent for most of its daily products, be it food, medicine or any other product, on World Cup hosts South Africa.

That could happen if there is no proper planning before hand.

During the World Cup, South Africa will of course receive a lot of people linked to the event, starting from supporting staff, spectators, and soccer players from all over the world, just to mention a few.

Supporting staff from all over the world might converge months before the World Cup starts and even months thereafter, so if proper plans are not in place, product insecurity could last months and not only one month.

So what does it mean to neighbouring Namibia, which is so much dependent on South Africa for almost every little thing that it needs?

Namibia imports about 80 percent of its food, medicine or any other product that is not manufactured in the country that is needed for daily use, from South Africa.

A year or two ago, Namibian consumers were not able to get products like chicken on the shelves, as a result of bird flu in South Africa, an indication of how dependent the country is on its neighbour.

Similarly, there was also a milk shortage in the country, as producers had to service the growing Chinese market and exported the milk to that country.

Namibian dairy producers could not meet the local demand during that time, as they claimed they could not produce more than what they normally produce.

Regarding fresh food such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, beer and soft drinks as well as maize, sugar, flour and pasta, there might not be a big problem as they are locally available.

But other basic foodstuffs, basically everything else that we are not producing locally such as cooking oil, butter, (milk, chicken), medicine, medical equipment and many other products, might become scarce at that time.

Recently, the Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Tourism Board, Digu //Noabeb, also mentioned the possibility of rental car shortages during 2010, as many car rental companies are subsidiaries of companies in South Africa, which is likely to recall most of its fleets operating in Namibia.

This therefore could be another possible problem which could have a negative impact on the country's tourism industry.

The Namibian Government a few years ago obliged local retailers to buy a certain percentage of their fruit and vegetables from local producers, which have certainly encouraged local producers to produce more.

Hence on that front, we might be secured of fresh food or locally produced food.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry also admitted that there could be a probable redirection of products away from the Namibian market during the World Cup, due to the increase in demand in South Africa.

A communication from the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry has stated that food shortages could be manifold.

Currently, the use of agricultural land for bio-fuel production, urban and non-agricultural developments, natural calamities, and the global economy are cited as causes of food shortage worldwide.

In addressing a possible food shortage during 2010, the agriculture ministry has established the Strategic Food Reserve facilities in crop growing regions.

The facilities are designed to pile up cereals equivalent to four months of the country's annual cereal consumption.

Another initiative the ministry said could avert the situation, is the Green Scheme and National Horticulture Development Initiative to increase the production, processing and marketing of Namibian horticultural products.

"At household level, programmes spearheaded by the ministry include the provision of subsidised fertilisers, seeds, ploughing services and tractors," a statement issued by the ministry read.

It said both programmes are aimed at encouraging producers to increase food production.

To further minimise possible food shortage in the country, the agriculture ministry noted that it negotiates favourable terms of trade and thereby encourages the private sector to explore trade diversification in terms of exports and imports.

"The ministry is in the process of developing contingency plans with stakeholders of both the public and private sectors, to discuss the possibilities of food shortages and measures to address these," the ministry assured.

It is just more than a year before the mega event takes place in South Africa, thus plans to diversify imports and exports could be a lengthy process, given the time frame that is at hand.

So what other options are left, except local retailers who are also subsidiaries of companies in South Africa?

Most of the retailers that New Era spoke to were confident that there would not be any food or other product crises during the World Cup.

"We don't foresee any issues with late or non-existing stock for several reasons. Firstly, we get many products from our sister companies such as NBL, Namibia Dairies, Windhoek Schlacterei and many others," a statement from Pick 'n Pay said.

The Marketing Manager of Pick 'n Pay, Thomas Bokemüller, said the Namibian franchise works closely with its South African franchiser.

"With a buyer from their side, we make sure that Pick 'n Pay Namibia gets the best deals as well as the required stock and products. They fully represent our interests when dealing with SA suppliers," Bokemüller said in the statement he issued.

He noted that the company is currently embarking on new deals with even more local suppliers, also from the small and medium enterprise industry in order to supply Pick 'n Pay with fresh produce from farmers.

"We don't foresee a shortage in providing stock to our customers during the World Cup in 2010. We will also make sure that our stores are stocked exceptionally well already in advance as many visitors will come to Namibia as well," Bokemüller said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Shoprite Group of Companies' head office in South Africa, through its Corporate Communications & Customer Care Relations Manager, Sarita van Wyk.

"The Shoprite Group does not foresee that it will experience any problems in supplying in the demands of an increased customer base in 2010," Van Wyk stated.

The group said it sources from international markets when necessary to get the best quality and price on food and household items for its customers.

"The Group also has sophisticated internal distribution systems in place, which in the past few years have shown much better store delivery levels compared to those of our suppliers," the statement reads.

It seems as if Namibian consumers need not worry about product shortages in 2010, as can be seen from statements issued by major retail shops in the country.

The Woolworths press office in Cape Town also stated that it does not envisage problems of product availability in Namibia during the hosting of the soccer World Cup.

Woolworths says improving availability of its products is critical to meeting the needs of its customers.

"Availability has received significant focus this year through a review of Woolworths catalogues, improved planning and forecasting, management of supplier performance and improved stock management disciplines," the retailer said in its statement.

The company said its highly efficient and finely tuned central supply chain model is geared to deal with ongoing increases in volumes and to manage the distribution of products to many different, and ever increasing, store locations around the country and through franchise operations in African countries.

The Ministry of Trade was contacted to respond on the issue, but did not come back with a response by the time of going to print.

Maybe there is no reason to be worried about shortages of food and other essential products such as medicine in the country during 2010, judging from the above responses.