The Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries says his ministry is seeking a bilateral cooperation with the government of Namibia on how to improve livestock production.

James Duku says Namibia has one of the best practices of livestock management in Africa; South Sudan can adapt this experience to improve its livestock production.

Some of Namibia’s indigenous breeds of cattle, goats and sheep are disease resistant, and others can withstand feed and water shortages.

Mr. Duku, who returned from a meeting organized by IGAD last week in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, for the member states on livestock keeping, said at the meeting, he learned about cattle registration and tracing.

One of Nambia’s best livestock husbandry system is the; Namibian Livestock Identification and Traceability System, which utilizes electronic ear tags, along with secondary visual tags, tied to a unique animal identification number, which are scanned at every stage of cattle movement and compiled in a database. The database allows for more effective tracing in the event of a disease outbreak, enabling quarantine and other necessary steps.

The database also interfaces with information systems maintained by abattoirs and auction houses and the Stocks Brand Register to form a full picture of livestock movement and activity.

Mr Duku said this practice can reduce cattle theft.

“Key area of cooperation to start with, will be to train our people the practice of registration, adapt that system to improve out livestock. If we can register our cattle, if we can identify them, then this rampart stealing of cattle can be reduced,” said Duku.

Namibia is a large and sparsely populated country south-west coast of Africa with only 2.4million people.

Namibia is not a member of IGAD, but member states sought its experience. Kenya is among East Africa countries that sought cooperation with Namibia in 2014 to facilitate the exchange of ideas and breeding techniques, with the aim of establishing a cross breed between the Namibian Brahman and the Kenyan Boran cow.