Cape Town - With the aim of attracting investment in the game meat sector, and to open local, regional and international market opportunities, the Cabinet has approved South Africa’s first draft Game Meat Strategy for public comment.
Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, said: “The strategy and implementation plan are aimed at creating a formalised, thriving and transformed game meat industry in South Africa that contributes to food security and sustainable socio-economic growth.”
Attracting investment to the sector required transformation of the industry to ensure future growth, the department said.
The game meat industry, at present mainly a by-product of hunting, is predominately an informal industry that operates in a fragmented manner. The industry is largely untransformed and there is a low participation rate by previously disadvantaged people.
In addition, there are large areas of community-owned land that is suitable for plains game and which provides opportunities for community-based enterprises to drive rural socio-economic development.
The aim of this strategy will be to create a formalised game meat industry.
Some of the key strategic outcomes encapsulated in the draft Game Meat Strategy include shifting from an informal sector where game meat production and harvesting is secondary to hunting, to formal commercial ventures focused on game meat production and the associated full value chain, as well as a reconfigured industry model that promotes economies of scale necessary for sustainable growth of the sector.
“The need to create new value, open up new opportunities, generate new growth, and deliver new efficiencies are all key to transformation, and will necessitate change along the entire game meat value chain,” said Creecy.
The draft strategy will be published for public comment in the second quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.
Cape Times