Namibia: Committee to Report On Value Addition

Source from:  New Era (Windhoek) 14 August 2008 08/15/2008

An inter-ministerial committee is expected to submit a report and recommendations to Cabinet on how Namibia can add value to its agricultural and forestry products. This follows a two-day conference at Okahandja where the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in collaboration with the Namibian Manufacturing Association came together to jointly plan for the future on value addition on agricultural and forestry related industries. The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade and Industry will now deliberate on proposals raised at the conference and recommend those feasible to Cabinet for implementation. Speaking at the official opening, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Isak Katali, said the economic growth based on primary agricultural and forestry production is too little. He noted that value addition on meat products estimated growth is only 2 percent, fruits and forestry is 6,8 percent and vegetables was 2 percent during the year 2006. Katali said this is despite the fact that recent studies have shown that non-traditional crops such as table grapes, dates, cotton, tobacco, lucerne and devil's claw have potential for expansion. Katali also informed the conference that fruit production for export has good potential as Namibia can harvest earlier in the season than South Africa, providing substantial price advantages in the European market. The Government has diversified the product base with projects like the National Horticultural Marketing Incentive, and Tandejieskoppe, irrigation projects along the Kavango River. It has also built storage facilities, and Katali said the efforts are meant to encourage food security. "This does not only create a market for farmers and encourages food security but it avails opportunities to entrepreneurs to add value to products." The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Andrew Ndishishi, echoed the sentiments of the deputy minister, saying more needs to be done to add value to the country's agricultural products. Ndishishi said currently, Namibia produces 28500 tonnes of table grapes per year. Around 95 percent of the grapes are exported to the EU and the rest to South Africa. "Why can we not add value to the table grapes exported to South Africa and produce grape juice and schnapps?" The permanent secretary said the lack of expertise and skills is one of the contributing factors that make Namibia unable to add value to its products. He said requirements for work permits for skills importation and transfer must be looked at. A research paper presented at the conference indicates that there is a huge potential on value addition on small stock meat. Currently, de-boned prime cuts are exported to Norway while stroganoff is exported to South Africa and offals and skins are some of the products from value addition. The paper states that the short shelf life, ban on bone-in exports to EU and distance from the market, are some of the factors hindering value addition. The fact that supermarket chains in South Africa have their own butcheries for processing meat was also cited as a challenge for Namibia to add value on its meat products. A proposal was made that a centralised de-boning, portioning and packaging facility must be set up while the de-boning must be warm to preserve tenderness and shape. Another proposal said that meat must be transported in portions and carcasses and more products such as sheep salami must be produced, and the brains and tongues of sheep must be utilised. Although agriculture and forestry only contribute 6,4 percent to the Gross Domestic Product, the sector sustains about 70 percent of the Namibian population. Enditem