Farmers push for Eloolo abattoir to be opened

The Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) has given the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform 30 days to reopen the Eloolo abattoir at Oshakati.

This is to allow farmers within the northern communal areas (NCAs) to get market access to sell their livestock, while battling severe drought.

NNFU president Jason Emvula says many communal farmers do not have market access to sell their livestock and earn a living.

“If you look around, you can see that farmers are having it difficult. There is no grazing for the animals or water to drink. It is dry everywhere.

“For the past years farmers have seen losing their livestock due to the drought effects and a lack of market access to sell off their livestock.

“Equally, over the years we have seen farmers taking their own lives because they could not bear the results of seeing their livestock die of hunger.

“I am a farmer myself, and I know what it’s like to lose your livestock because of hunger, and you have nowhere to sell them.

“We want the government to reopen the Oshakati Eloolo abattoir within 30 days,” he says.

Emvula says the agriculture ministry has revoked the abattoir’s operating licence in 2022 due to previous operators mismanaging it.

Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein reopened the Oshakati Eloolo abattoir in 2020, after it was shut down in 2016.

The abattoir was run by a local company, Kiat Investment Holdings, in partnership with the Ningbo Agriculture Investment Group.

Rauna Athingo, the chief veterinarian for animal disease control in the north-west in the agriculture ministry, says most abattoirs in the northern regions have been shut down due to mismanagement and a lack of capacity to operate.

“The abattoirs are closed down, because the government cannot continue to award tenders to people with no capacity to run them.

“As a ministry we need to review the tenders awarded to the abattoirs, because some people given the tenders to run them do not have the capability, and they lack marketing skills.

“Tenders are awarded and people become comfortable and end up abandoning the abattoirs, leaving many others to suffer the consequences,” Athingo says.

She says the ministry needs to review tender processing and farmers’ marketing strategies.