Biltong farming to become a thing

Biltong farming to become a thingVenison identified as a niche market Producers of game biltong are encouraged to increase their marketing, branding and promotion efforts. NAMPA



Namibia hopes to promote venison exports to regional and international markets by 2020 after game farming was identified as a niche market with potential to grow.

The acting permanent secretary of the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Calicious Tutalife, told Nampa that the intervention would be done through the ministry’s execution strategies for industrialisation. This focuses on game harvesting and processing as well as the development of a value chain for game products.

According to the ministry’s ‘Growth Strategy for Namibia’s Game Meat Industry and Associated Value Chains’, South African meat products are increasingly marketed in Namibia at the expense of local products.

Local biltong producers, in particular, are thus encouraged to increase their marketing, branding and promotion efforts.

Major game species for meat production in Namibia are gemsbok, springbok, kudu, Hartmann’s zebra and red hartebeest.

Tutalife said venison was a niche market could be developed because wild animals were not prone to diseases that affect domestic animals.

He said there had been fluctuations in the domestic production of venison.

“Overall, we can see some growth but there has been a bit of fluctuation, hence the need to see if we can maintain the level of performance because fluctuations are not good; they create uncertainties in the industry,” Tutalife said.

He said venturing into game farming depended on various factors, including profitability and the policy environment being conducive enough.

Namibia has a mixed track record of mostly small-scale attempts to commercially export venison to international markets.

Namibia exported over 1 000 tons of venison worth more than N$50 million to South Africa, and 456 tons of venison products valued at N$11 million, in 2013.

Exports have largely been confined to small amounts of processed products such as biltong and droëwors.

In 2014, export volumes of venison and venison products dropped to 86 tons (N$2.1 million), and in 2015 to 38 tons (N$931 000).

Tutalife said commercial banks were reluctant to award loans for large investments in the venison value chain. Besides charging higher interest rates than development banks, they required high collateral.

He added that fresh venison was not readily available in local shops.

Besides meat, game farming produces hides that are processed into leather.

“Wild animals are also a tourism attraction and popular for trophy hunting, which are aspects that are not comparable to beef that does not attract tourism or trophy hunting.”

The ministry launched its strategy for the game industry in November 2016. It’s target is to increase the overall value of venison sales from less than N$200 million in 2015 to N$300 million by 2020.

Interventions include improving the industry’s contribution to sustainable wildlife by creating an enabling environment for professional game farming and harvesting, increased output of high-quality meat by supporting new investments in game meat, and repositioning Namibian game meat production in local, regional and international markets.