Namibia has set plans in motion to establish its own fully-fledged Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine manufacturing plant, which will help cut the millions of Namibian dollars currently spent on importing livestock vaccines.
The agriculture ministry’s director for agricultural production, extension and engineering services, Ben Haraseb, shared the latest development at yesterday’s opening of the 2026 Agriculture Investment Conference & Expo at the NamPower Convention Centre in Windhoek.
With Namibia grappling with a devastating FMD outbreak that has to date resulted in 131 confirmed FMD cases across 18 infected farms in the Karasburg State Veterinary District within the //Kharas region, Haraseb said it’s time for Namibia to set up its own vaccine facility.
“So, those plans are also now in place to hopefully have our own FMD vaccine manufacturing plant, because we are currently relying on Botswana for most of our supplies. It will be useful not only for FMD, but also for vaccines against other livestock diseases that have historically troubled our local livestock sector. Should everything get off the ground, that will be a huge relief for us as a country, and it is something that the government is seriously looking into,” said Haraseb.
Namibia currently relies heavily on importing FMD vaccines, primarily from the Botswana Vaccine Institute and international suppliers. The government has historically reported spending significant sums on vaccine imports each year.
In 2015, the ministry announced a partnership with China’s Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFFECC) to build an FMD vaccine plant on a 100-hectare plot in Eenhana in the Ohangwena region, but the project never materialised as a functional facility.
In late 2023, private animal health company Swavet also announced local discussions with private investors, the University of Namibia (Unam), and government stakeholders to explore options for establishing a local vaccine factory in Windhoek. Agricultural authorities and bodies like the Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia (LLPBN) have repeatedly emphasised that producing livestock vaccines locally would drastically reduce costs and improve response times.
Sourcing
Currently, Namibia procures, imports, and stores veterinary vaccines through a combination of state-controlled procurement, international partnerships, and strict regulatory laws to protect its valuable livestock industry.
The Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) manages national veterinary vaccine procurement through public sector tenders. The Directorate compiles national requirements into rolling multi-year procurement plans to supply drugs and vaccines.
For critical regional diseases like Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Namibia heavily bypasses open commercial markets in favour of direct state-to-state supply agreements.
For example, the LLPBN utilises a fixed three-year supply agreement with the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) to guarantee millions of doses.
To combat abrupt outbreaks, the LLPBN and DVS maintain FMD emergency mobile stores equipped with portable cooling units, field materials, and ready-to-deploy doses that can be quickly moved directly to localised outbreak epicentres.
-ohembapu@nepc.com.na
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