Govt subsidises double ear tags

To support producers to comply with the new Animal Identification Regulations, the Government of Namibia made funds available to pay a subsidy to cattle farmers in the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free zone.

This subsidy provides for new RFID ear tag sets and compensates producers for used and unused old ear tags. The deadline for implementing the double ear tag system was August 2, 2011, but the deadline for submitting claims for subsidies was extended to the end of September 2011 due to the shortage of ear tags.

The Meat Board administered the fund on behalf of Government. In total, 7 261 claims were received, captured and verified. Subsidies were approved for more than 551 208 new ear tags sets. Subsidy approval was subject to claims being verified against the NamLITS database with information current to November 30, 2011. Claims for new tags were approved under the condition that the NamLITS database was notified of the replacement of the ear tags by completing the animal registration card accordingly.

Farmers received compensation of N$3 for used tags which were bearing their own stock brand code only and were replaced by a new ear tag set according to the regulations. A refund of N$6.20 was paid for old unused ear tags which were submitted to DVS with a completed claim form.

Delays in the processing of the subsidy claims were experienced due to a backlog of cattle registration on NamLITS which was cleared by the end of November 2011.

In addition, a considerable number of submitted claims contained incorrect banking details which needed to be individually verified and corrected. More than 260 farmers submitted incorrect or unclear information on their claim forms and were unreachable by the Meat Board for correction of the details.

Once these farmers submit their correct information, their payouts will be processed.

All payments were made per bank transfer. The beneficiary´s reference is `ear tag claims´ and the stock brand code of the claimant.

Farmers who have any enquiries are requested to contact Frans Uusiku at the Meat Board of Namibia´s Ear Tag Office at 061 275 864, fax 061 238 839 or claims@nammic.com.na.

click to enlarge EAR TAGS: Government has made funds available to pay a subsidy to cattle farmers © Contributed