Government looks at wool

The government is seeking to improve the sale of raw wool from livestock farmers to local processors and in South Africa by adding value to the product.The Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development's acting permanent secretary, Calicious Tutalife, told Nampa last week that the government was looking at increasing the price paid to farmers for raw karakul wool.He said farmers were sometimes paid as little as N$2 per kilogram of raw black wool and the government was looking at upping the value to at least N$20 per kilogram.The price of one kilogram of brown or light coloured raw wool is between N$10 and N$20 and can be dyed at an affordable cost, unlike black wool. The cost of hand shearing is about N$14 per sheep while electrical shearing costs N$17.Tutalife said the ministry was looking at establishing a plant where wool could be cleaned and combed to create another stream of income for farmers and add value to the product.“We still need to undertake a feasibility study to determine whether a first-stage processing factory for scouring (cleaning) and carding (combing) is possible, because that is what our farmers need the most,” he said.He explained that wool produced in Namibia was costly and not suitable for clothing, but acceptable for carpets.Key issues in the manual production of carpets are the cost of acquiring the raw product, training weavers and having access to cleaned and combed wool.“The current practice is that the person doing the final product of the carpet is the same person who has to go out and collect the wool, sort it, bundle it together at the farm, and shave the sheep twice a year.”Wool is hand woven in Namibia, unlike in other parts of the world where machinery is used and production costs are lower.He said out of about 360 tons of wool produced annually in Namibia, only 60 tons end up on the market, while the remaining 300 tons are thrown away or burned due to poor quality.“Not all of the 60 tons on the market end up with our weavers. Some of it goes to South Africa for cleaning, before it is imported back into the country,” Tutalife said.The government's intervention to increase the value of the wool industry will be done through its growth strategies to create a more profitable, diversified and sustainable environment.NAMPA

Government looks at wool

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-02

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Government looks at wool

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-02

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