Africa-Press – Namibia. AGRICULTURE minister Calle Schlettwein and Meatco chief executive officer Mwilima Mushokabanji are not seeing eye to eye on the performance of the state-owned meat-processing and meat-marketing entity.
Schlettwein maintains that the commercial entity is in a delicate financial position, with no improvement seen over the past three years.
“Zero improvement. That is the point. No improvement in a precarious financial situation of a commercial entity, which is pivotal in the Namibian livestock sector is for sure worrying,” Schlettwein said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Schlettwein said Meatco loans with the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) stood at over N$437 million, money which was used to pay off loans from commercial banks, FNB and Bank Windhoek.
This is after Mushokabanji said on Friday Meatco has paid off the FNB loan of N$520 million, and another N$94 million with Bank Windhoek. He said Meatco’s only remaining loan was with DBN.
Schlettwein blamed Meatco’s poor performance for the emergence of a private abattoir, Savanna Beef Processors, saying Meatco is unable to provide a lucrative market for local farmers.
Savanna is being spearheaded by the Beef Value Chain Forum, a grouping of more than 600 farmers who want to invest N$300 million in a beef export processing plant in the country.
“Meatco has the biggest abattoirs, but they are failing to run the entity and provide a competitive price to our farmers. Because of this, farmers have come together to establish their own where they can get better returns,” said Schlettwein.
Schlettwein last week said Meatco is a limping organisation which is in intensive care, adding that there will come a time when the government will take a hard decision on the future of the entity.
Meanwhile, Mushokabanji has defended Meatco’s performance over the past three years.
“We respect the perspective of the minister but we also have another strategic foresight about how we see the future,” Mushokabanji said.
He said Meatco has achieved several milestones to stabilise the local meat industry, including developing export markets for the most disadvantaged section of the community – farmers in the northern communal areas (NCAs).
“As I speak to you now, beef from NCAs, through our Katima Mulilo Abattoir and the Mobile Slaughter Unit, is currently finding its space in the Ghanaian market, as well as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo as exported through the Commodity Based Trade Protocols,” Mushokabanji said.
Mushokabanji further said Meatco continues to pay farmers competitive prices above the South African parity price and higher than local competitors for slaughter animals.
“Our prices are currently at N$61 per kilogramme compared to five years ago when we paid farmers N$37,7 per kg south of the veterinary cordon fence.
He said Meatco has not lost export markets in the past three years like other African countries, adding that Meatco has never failed to fill its allocated Norway quota and had, in fact, assisted Botswana to fill its quota.
According to him, Meatco paid N$1,1 billion to producers during the devastating drought of 2019/20, thus contributing 50% to the output of the livestock sector that year and sustaining primary production.
He said the national herd had grown back to 2,5 million, which would provide enough raw materials for Meatco and private abattoirs.
Schlettwein also expressed disappointment in public sentiment that his comments on Meatco’s performance are aimed at killing Meatco in a bid to advance the interests of privately owned abattoirs like Savanna.
“I am very disappointed with the racial slant the discussion about Meatco’s fortunes has taken. It should remain a discussion about how the public interest in a public entity can be best solved,” Schlettwein said.
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