By Rosa Hamukuaja Thobias
Public enterprises are now more than ever important enterprises that contribute towards supporting and promoting food security, urban growth and development.
Namibia’s agricultural related public enterprises, including Meatco, Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia (formerly Meat Board), Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA), Agribank and the Namibian Agronomic Board, all have a public policy objective. They are committed to promoting public interest, resolving societal problems, allocating resources and regulating the sector pattern, all with the common goal of ensuring Namibia becomes a food-secure country.
Namibia’s food and nutrition policy provides overall guidelines to coordinate our efforts to ensure that we are all working together to overcome hunger and malnutrition. Ultimately contributing towards the second Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger, which is rooted in key government development plans.
All these agriculture-related public enterprises play a pivotal role in improving Namibia’s economy, but are they profitable? Are they thriving? Financial sustainability is required in order to minimise the over-reliance on government funding.
Public enterprises also provide significant structuring elements which may influence development patterns. An institution like Agribank, for example, was created and mandated to loan money to persons or financial intermediaries to promote agriculture and activities related to agriculture. Meatco was created to serve, promote and coordinate the interests of livestock producers in Namibia while striving for the stabilisation of the red meat industry of Namibia. Both of these are of national importance.
The Namibian Agronomic Board, in its latest newsletter, announced the Market Share Promotion (MSP) Scheme aimed at growth-at-home strategy implementation. The strategy aims to stimulate horticultural production in Namibia and promote the local sales of fresh fruits and vegetables. The MSP scheme is supported by the Special Controlled Product (SCP) Scheme, which initially focused on potatoes and onions and now encompasses 20 vegetable product lines.
AgriBusDev, which is now defunct, was created with the main objective of monitoring and creating an ideal environment for achieving the objectives of the Green Schemes as outlined in the 2008 Green Scheme Policy.
These agriculture-related public enterprises all play a pivotal role in the advancement of food security and ensuring that they thrive as well as minimise over-reliance on government funding.
Given the extent of their influence, effective and efficient planning thus becomes essential for managing them coherently in order for them to become profitable and those that are required to regulate and ensure there are clear policy directives for Namibia to thrive and become food secure.
Namibia, through the high-level blueprint known as the Harambee Prosperity Plan, has a special key focus on areas of economic advancement. This pillar highlights that Namibia is a small open economy, a situation that necessitates a targeted and deliberate approach to facilitate inclusive and sustainable levels of economic growth to redress inequality, alleviate poverty and unemployment.
What can they do?
1. Diversification of Revenue Streams
Value-Added Products: Invest in processing and value-addition to raw agricultural products. For example, turning raw beef into processed meats or leather products, or raw crops into packaged food products.
Agri-Tourism: Develop agri-tourism activities that can generate additional income, such as farm stays, educational tours and local produce markets.
Export Markets: Explore and expand into international markets, particularly for niche or premium products like organic beef or high-quality Namibian produce.
2. Operational Efficiency
Cost Management: Implement cost-cutting measures such as reducing energy consumption, optimising supply chains, and leveraging technology to improve productivity.
3. Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Partner with private sector companies for joint ventures, particularly in areas like infrastructure development, marketing, and technology transfer.
4. Strengthening Governance and Accountability
Corporate Governance: Enhance governance practices to ensure transparency, accountability, and ethical management of resources. This includes regular audits and clear performance metrics. Performance-Based Management: Introduce performance-based management systems that tie executive and employee compensation to financial and operational targets.
5. Financial Restructuring
Debt Management: Restructure any existing debt to more favourable terms, or reduce debt through strategic asset sales or other means.
Leadership Development: Focus on developing strong leadership that can drive the company toward sustainability and profitability.
9. Technology Adoption
Digital Transformation: Adopt digital tools and technologies such as data analytics, mobile applications, and IoT to improve decision-making, reduce costs, and enhance productivity.
Smart Agriculture: Invest in smart agriculture technologies, such as drones, sensors, and AI-driven decision support systems, to optimise agricultural processes and customer-centric approach. By taking these steps, agriculture-related SOEs in Namibia can reduce their reliance on government funding, build sustainable business models, and achieve long-term profitability.
*Rosa Hamukuaja Thobias is a Researcher, Strategist, Entrepreneur and Communication Strategist.
