The Vice-Treasurer of the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU) says farmers in the Northern Communal Area (NCA) are struggling to access drought relief for their livestock.

Kristian Hango said this during a briefing with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economics and Public Administration and the farmers' unions in Windhoek.

Hango says there is a need for a proactive approach to drought assistance for livestock farmers in the NCA.

"Farmers at the NCA cannot access the drought relief. Why can't we rent out farms because there is no private farm? We don't have transportation, so we can't benefit as we can't transport with trucks; we use vehicles and trailers. Literally, we cannot benefit from the fodder supply scheme, which started in October. We have experienced drought since last year, but we only access drought relief in October, while some other farmers have been benefiting from drought relief since it was declared."

The union also raised the issue of price discrimination in the sector between the farmers south of the veterinary cordon fence and the NCA farmers.

"The discrimination in prices we have is simply based on where you have farmers from the south accessing lucrative markets where they are paid a good price but we cannot procure from the south. Now that you speak about quarantine, that will be the only way, and the expenses that are incurred by the farmers by taking their livestock to quarantine and probably paying for the keeping of that livestock in quarantine and transporting it to the abattoir are to be borne by the farmer, and the farmer will be left with peanuts. We are bringing this to your attention to see how it can be addressed."

The farmers' union also suggested that MeatCo be restructured into two separate subsidiaries, MeatCo NCA and MeatCo South.

"We want a MeatCo that concentrates on NCA based on their conditions and situations. We have an N$800 million budget that is funding MeatCo, which lands on Meatco south. So we thought that since this fund came from the Ministry of Finance, if you have two MeatCos, when MeatCo requests money, there will be a cut that clearly goes to Meatco NCA, not like now when we have 800 but only 4% of that goes to NCA."

The chairperson of the Standing Committee on Economics and Public Administration, Natangwe Ithete, assured the farmers union that their concerns would be addressed.

"Be guaranteed that the committee will assist you, and this is a matter that has come a long way. We are very happy that you brought it up, and we are equally happy that it was not brought up by an individual organisation but brought to our attention by a united force. That shows how serious you are, and you should be assisted."