Namibia expands aquaculture with oysters!
2 Aug 2007
Namibia will soon be able to expand its fledgling aquaculture industry and export oysters to the Far East, with Singapore the next destination after China and Hong Kong. Although the first local oyster cultivation was started 20 years ago and has expanded to 42 oyster farms in the Atlantic Ocean near Luederitz and Walvis Bay, severe health regulations in European countries and the US and the lack of a local testing laboratory have hampered the industry.
But according to a recent comment made by the outgoing Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Andrew Ndishishi, such situation will not continue anymore, since a revamp of staff and equipments have already taken place. A local testing laboratory is also in place that is supposed to get international accreditation by early next year.
The Permanent Secretary added that he would be visiting Singapore to finalise the export agreements and that “a team of exports from Singapore will come to Namibia this month still to test our ocean waters and examine our oyster plants so that we can obtain the green light for export."
Namibian oyster production amounted to six million oysters in 2004, bringing in N$12 million and there is still potential to grow up to 50 million oysters a year. Currently, the cocktail-size oysters produced in Namibia fetch around N$3 each, but they could easily fetch N$12 each when grown to bigger sizes. In fact, Namibian oysters are renowned for their top quality even at the present moment.
About 70 per cent of Namibia's total oyster production is exported to South Africa. Some are flown to China and Hong Kong, where there are fewer import restrictions than in Europe, while the rest are consumed locally.
According to one of the largest companies dealing in oyster trade internationally said, "Namibia has a definite market advantage it should exploit because oysters grow three times faster here than in Europe. In France, oysters take nearly three years to grow to the preferred market size and in Namibia only 9 to 12 months."
Oysters are not naturally found along the Namibian coast and all spat (from which baby oysters are grown) needs to be imported from overseas originally. But currently, given the huge potential some firms have started producing their own spat.
The upolluted waters and the nutrient-rich Benguela current help in growing both the pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and the European oyster (Ostrea edulis) in Namibia.
Already, the export companies are aware of the stringent EU health regulations and they are preparing adequate sea space available for oyster farmers so as to maintain the strict quality standards of export to Europe.
Oysters are grown either in crates or mesh bags along lines suspended in the ocean or from rafts. The process is quite labour intensive, as the bags and lines must be changed every few weeks when the oysters outgrow their bags or crates. Sorting the oysters for the market is done by hand too.
The local laboratory has now set the tempo for the Namibian oyster export industry to get ready for capturing the markets!
Resource: www.allafrica.com
Released on: 2 August 2007
