Namibian President opens new poultry facility
Namib Poultry Industries (NPI) have opened their new poultry facility in the company of the country’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Pohamba told guests at the official how he had tasted the NPI chicken and it was “unlike other chicken”. He also told Namibians to shop carefully and to support local products.
Although the idea of NPI took shape in 2005 already, the greenfield project started from scratch two years ago. The N$500 million investment includes a hatchery and abattoir, geared towards producing 250,000 chickens a week to meet local consumption. Production can be doubled to 500,000 chickens a week, NMI Namibia chief executive officer Koos Ferreira said.
Ferreira came to Namibia with the purpose of starting a broiler project in February 2005. The plan was to get black economic empowerment (BEE) partners on board with a 40% shareholding, but the idea was difficult to sell to financiers, Ferreira said.Finding a suitable piece of flat land with enough water and power, which was close to the market and distributors, was another challenge.
NMI Namibia chairman Martie Janse van Rensburg said NPI buys local goods and services to the tune of N$4,5 million every month as part of the holding company’s local procurement strategy.
“Over the past 18 months, NPI bought 62% of its materials locally, spending N$245 million in the process. Most of the more than 500 people working for NPI are Namibian”, van Rensburg said. Nearly 70% of the company’s total labour costs are paid to locals, she said, adding that N$40 million made it into Namibian pockets over the past 18 months.
Source: All Africa
