A simple viewpoint

MOO-MOO, OTAVI WRITES:The newspapers are full of reports about the precarious situation that Meatco finds itself in. There are many complicated theories and explanations, but my humble opinion as a non-livestock farmer is as follows:First, some background for the uninformed: Meat, in this case beef, is graded according to a system of A0 to A5, B0 to B5 and C0 to C5. Sometimes AB is also added as an additional grade.The letter indicates the age of the animal. The younger (A), the more tender and juicier, and the older (B and C), the more tough and dry the meat. The age is determined by looking at the teeth of the animal that is slaughtered.The figure indicates the amount of fat on the meat, starting at 0 for absolutely no fat, to 5 for meat with too much fat.Obviously grades of A2 to A3 and B2 to B3 are the best quality and consumers are willing to pay a premium for it. Previously the different grades had different prices, and professional farmers managed their production process, striving to produce the best and most expensive grades in the highest volumes possible. The correct A-grade earned the highest income through quality, the correct B-grades through quality and highest mass, while the C-grades mostly consisted of old cows who couldn’t produce calves anymore and were thus culled by slaughtering them. These old cows made up only approximately 12% of slaughter animals.Today all grades are priced exactly the same, presumably to accommodate new suppliers from the many resettlement farms, most of whom do not control- or produce quality, but market only their old and unproductive animals. The better ones are sold out of hand for cash, because they do not want to pay income tax either.Worst of all, the motivation to produce quality is now gone and most producers just go for mass and nothing else. Even oxen are now commonly kept to well into the C-grade to gain as much mass as possible and are sold at very high weight. To produce quality takes much effort and costs money, but if you get paid the same as for meat that cannot even be used to make soup of, why would you strive for it? This absence of quality is obvious to everybody who do not buy meat at specific places where the price is higher and who cater for this niche market. The rest of the meat in Namibia are tough, sinewy and dry.Private abattoirs and even shops who buy directly from farmers are the only ones still keeping the correct way of producing beef alive.Like so many other collapses, the looming one of Meatco therefore also has politics as its origin. It has never been a good idea to subsidize mediocracy, low productivity, unacceptable quality and inability with the hard work and diligence of productive producers.In essence, so-called resettlement farms are simply commercial farms that have been turned into unproductive subsistence units that produce very little, if anything, for the formal commercial market. They don’t have to, because they do not even have to pay for their farms. Of course, there will not be enough slaughter cattle to keep Meatco afloat, a situation which is going to increase as time goes by, resettlement farms increase in number and the discriminating and demotivating pricing system of Meatco is maintained. The plug should’ve been pulled on Meatco, or the resettlement idea, a long time ago already. Only one of them can survive.The same applies to the affirmative farm scheme. Most of the beneficiaries do not even make payments on their heavily subsidized loans, so why would they pay income tax? Therefore, no formal marketing of cattle either. Only cash out of hand deals.* Rubrieke, meningstukke, briewe en SMS’e deur lesers en meningvormers weerspieël nie noodwendig die siening van Republikein of Namibia Media Holdings (NMH) nie. As mediahuis onderskryf NMH die etiese kode vir Namibiese media, soos toegepas deur die Media-ombudsman.

A simple viewpoint

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Republikein 2025-04-04

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A simple viewpoint

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Republikein 2025-04-04

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