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June 09, 2023
Agriculture (143)
The Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) says a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak has been detected in the Kabbe South Constituency of the Zambezi Region after 14 herds of cattle showed symptoms of the deadly disease.
FMD is a severe and highly contagious animal disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, deer, pigs, goats and sheep. It can be transboundary and can occur sporadically in any area currently free of the disease.
The government department, which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, said control measures such as restricting movement of cloven-hoofed animals had now been imposed, while investigations are being carried out to ascertain the source of the latest infections.
“In line with the Animal Health Act, Kabbe south and Kabbe north Constituencies have been declared FMD-infected areas and the entire Zambezi Region is declared a Disease Management Area (DMA),” Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Albertina Shilongo said.
The latest outbreak comes eight months after the country had successfully controlled and contained the previous FMD outbreak. More than 150 cattle are reported to have died due to FMD-related causes in 2021.
The Zambezi outbreak also follows neighbouring Botswana's decision last month to resume exports of live cattle and beef from areas declared free of foot-and-mouth disease.
Namibia last month lifted the suspension of live cattle exports to South Africa imposed in August after the neighbouring country put a hold on all movement of livestock in the country except for slaughter to contain the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease.
The Agricultural Bank of Namibia (Agribank) says it has advanced loans worth N$1.1 billion to 2,700 clients in the Otjozondjupa Region.
Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein has challenged the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) and the Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA) to ramp up production and unlock market access for small-scale farmers.
The Namibian government has put up three more green schemes on the market as it moves ahead to outsource some of the projects to the private sector.
The Government says it will only announce in 2023 farmers and investors who would have been successful in their bids to run the green schemes across the country.
Savanna Beef Processors Ltd plans to turn to institutional investors to raise a N$26.4 million shortfall from its capital raising effort, which was targeting N$200 million and an additional N$300 million in debt required to establish a new export beef-processing facility in the country.
Savanna Beef Processors says it raised only N$23 million from a targeted N$54 million from its second capital raise which closed last week Friday.
Namibia has lifted the suspension of live cattle exports to South Africa imposed last month after the neighboring country put a hold on all movement of livestock in the country except for slaughter to contain the spread of the foot and mouth disease (FMD).
Namibia's beef subsector marketed 7,374 cattle for slaughter in July 2022, a 33% decline from 11,072 cattle sold for the same purpose prior year, latest statistics shared by Agribank show.
Königstein Capital, which has so far invested over N$100 million in Mashare Blueberry production, is planning to increase its investment to over N$1 billion in the next 10 years.
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The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform has imposed a country wide suspension of livestock imports, exports of fresh meat and raw animal products from Botswana.
Livestock farming enterprise objectives are aimed at increasing and sustaining production, which in turn, exerts pressure on the animal’s physiological abilities to perform. These performance aspects include reproduction, health, feed conversion, and general adaptability amongst others.
Namibia has announced a ban on poultry imports from Spain due to the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in that country.
Savanna Beef Processors in its latest update, says it has now raised N$16.52 million from a targeted N$54 million, a week after opening its second capital raise which is due to close on the 9th of September 2022.
