NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
South African produce
dominates Namibian market
N
amibia’s Minister of Agriculture,
Water and Forestry, Alpheus
!Naruseb, has expressed displeasure
over the low market share for the country’s
local agricultural produce of just over 40%
compared to foreign imports, mostly from
South Africa.
Namibia’s government, through the
Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry,
established the Agro-Marketing and
Trade Agency (AMTA) to coordinate and
manage the marketing and trading of
agricultural produce in Namibia.
AMTA is further mandated to manage
the national fresh produce hubs, the
cold storage facilities that store fruits and
vegetables, and channel them to local
and international markets.
The agency buys products from local
farmers and trades with relevant markets.
Its managing director, Lungameni Lucas,
recently informed !Naruseb, during the
minister’s tour of the Windhoek Fresh
Produce Hub, that the local market share
promotion of locally produced fruits and
vegetables is currently 44%. The remaining
56% is imported from South Africa.
The market share promotion is a
threshold that determines how much all
importers of fresh fruit and vegetables
need to source locally before they are
granted import permits. But the minister
was not impressed with the low market
share of Namibian grown agricultural
produce.
As a result, the minister directed AMTA,
AgriBusDev, and the Namibian Agronomic
Board to reconsider the local market share
promotion and ensure that it benefits local
farmers more.
AMTA is being accused of failing
to successfully execute its mandate,
especially when it comes to finding
the market for local produce as well as
allowing a well-established foreign fresh
produce supplier to compete with the
small-scale farmers.
The Omusati Regional Governor,
Erginus Endjala, said that horticultural
farmers in his region are still finding it
difficult to penetrate the local market,
currently dominated by South African
products.
About 400 small farmers involved in
irrigation activities along the Olushandja
Dam, near Ruacana, still do not have a
formal market to sell their produce, six
years after AMTA was established.
“The idea behind the establishment of
AMTA, a state agency, was to perform the
marketing and trading functions for local
horticulture producers. That was a brilliant
idea. However, the institution has been
a total failure. It is unfortunate that after
six years of its existence, our small-scale
farmers are producing to decay as they
don’t have a market to sell their goods,”
he said.
Unless the government goes back to
the drawing board and comes up with
a marketing and trading system that
would benefit the local farmers, the
long-term vision of eradicating poverty
would never be attained, the governor
emphasised.
Endjala described the current system
used by AMTA to source produce and
trade them on the market as a ‘nightmare’
for the farmers, as most of their goods are
being auctioned at very low prices.
“Our farmers are supposed to put
justifiable prices on their produce.
However, this is not happening; AMTA
decides the price for them, which is
unfair,” he said.
Other areas of concern are the fact
that local farmers have to compete with
well-established businesses such as Fysal
Fresh Produce, a South African horticultural
supplier and retailer.
“I was so disappointed to learn that
Fysal Fresh Produce, an established South
African business empire, is also operating
as a trading agency at AMTA hubs. The
institution was established to help small-
scale farmers to penetrate the market
that has been dominated by foreigners
since independence,” Endjala fumed.
By The Southern Times
There is a need for a regulation to compel the multinational retailers to have local, Namibian
produce on their shelves.
To avoid deterioration of perishable
produce, Endjala revealed that the region
has gone a step further to establish the
tomato processing plant in order to absorb
and add value to tomatoes, which are the
main produce in the region.
He called for the enactment of a
law that would prohibit institutions from
importing goods. The law should also
compel companies catering for schools
and hospitals to only source home-grown
produce.
Endjala further said there is a need for
a regulation to compel the multinational
retailers to have local produce on
their shelves. He also expressed his
disappointment with the absence of the
Namibia Competition Commission as well
as the Consumer Protection Commission
in the issues of unfair competition in the
agricultural sector.
Paulus Amutenya, the chairperson
of the Olushandja Farmers Association,
shared Endjala’s sentiment and wants the
provision to include all foodstuffs supplied
to the government. He further complained
that because of the lack of a market for
their produce, many farmers have be en
forced to cut back on production to only
cater for targeted clients, mostly family
friends for events such as weddings, and
street vendors.
AMTA PROGRESS
Namibia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry believes the country should be importing
less fresh produce from countries such as South Africa and supporting its local farmers instead.
Lucas reported that progress has been
made in the past four years and that the
trade of fresh produce sourced from local
farmers is picking up.
During the 2017/18 financial year, trade
volume was 3 671 metric tons of fresh
produce worth over R30-million that was
sourced from 477 local farmers, while R79-
million in levies and fees were collected
from imports (5%) and from local sales
(1.4%). Lucas said the agricultural produce
COLD LINK AFRICA • July/August 2018
was sourced from all seven government
agricultural green scheme projects as
well as small-scale farmers along the
Olushandja Dam.
While Lucas concurred with Minister
!Naruseb’s sentiment that there is potential
to source 100% locally grown agricultural
produce, he said, however, that such
targets can only be achieved if more
resources are made available.
He said the agency aims to establish a
R30-million revolving fund to successfully
implement the Cabinet directive on fresh
produce procurement, to ensure market
access for farmers, and also achieve
financial sustainability.
He said a R40-million levy allocation
to AMTA and R9-million subsidy from the
agriculture ministry are insufficient to
sustain operations.
During the 2018/19 financial year, the
government has allocated R78-million of
the national budget to AMTA. However,
Lucas points out that the organisation is in
a deficit of R29-million.
Meanwhile, the agency said it is ready to
buy more grain, mostly maize and mahangu
(millet), from local farmers this year.
AMTA also oversees the strategic food
reserves infrastructure, the silos, to ensure
national food security.
With the available storage space of
12 000 metric tons (MT) of national food
storage, AMTA has set aside about R60-
million to procure grain during the 2018/19
financial year.
The national total storage capacity
currently stands at 67 000MT, but currently,
the silos hold 22 900MT of that capacity.
AMTA also plans to introduce a revolving
fund to the tune of R85.3-million for the
purchasing of grain from farmers, and
ensure three cycle grain changes annually
to ensure food security and financial
sustainability. CLA
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