07 Jul 2021

Ngamiland farmers  have decried lack of standard price for beef.

However, they hold a position that establishing a meat regulator could be the only remedy.

In a meeting with four Members of Parliament in the North West region in Sehithwa recently, farmers said a meat regulator would control beef pricing in their area.

Farmers, led by the Joint Ngamiland Farmers Committee chairperson, Mr Frank Mafela, argued that lack of a standard beef price saw private abattoirs doing as they pleased, hence their low prices.

They told the MPs how they were seething over a pattern they considered unfair where each put a price or cost that did not benefit them but made huge loss.

“There is need for the price of beef to be regulated at the private abattoirs and the price to be made public as these abattoirs are fluctuating beef prices among individual farmers,” he said.

Mr Mafela also told the meeting that farmers were fighting an unending battle of trying to vaccinate their animals, but defeated by the fact that disease control fences, particularly the one at Makalamabedi  were dilapidated, therefore not effective.

He said farmers decried delayed compensation owing to the widespread wildlife conflict.

Mr Mafela said poultry farmers were also making huge losses and losing customers, something he attributed to lack of slaughter houses.

Okavango MP, Mr Kenny Kapinga urged farmers associations to work collectively, stating that disunity delayed their progress in achieving intended results. “If farmers associations worked together as one they will have a strong voice and manage to engage government,” he said.

Mr Kapinga also warned farmers against proliferation of abattoirs saying what they (farmers) needed were a good price for their cattle.

Maun West MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando said s district leaders appreciated challenges farmers were faced with and would continue working with them to find better solutions. ENDS