The Hochfeld Farmers Association is the 2014 winner of the Meatco National Braai Competition.

The 34th edition of the National Braai Competition was held at Bitterwasser on Saturday, 29 March 2014. This year’s competition was hosted by the Uhlenhorst Farmers’ Association, the champions of last year’s National Braai Competition.

The Stampriet Farmers Association won second place in the Farmers Association category while third place went to Kaiserstraat Farmers Association.

In the Social Teams category, the first place winners are the ‘City Sleekers’, followed by the ‘Voermeester’ in second place and the ‘Hippies’ in third place.

As this year’s champions, the Hochfeld Farmers Association not only gets the honour of hosting the next year’s National Braai Competition, they also received N$100 000 from Meatco to do it with. The winners of the social team category received a cash prize of N$10 000.

A total of 12 teams took part in the Farmers Association category while nine (9) took part in the Social Teams category.

This year’s competition also included a Junior Braai category, a first in the history of the competition. This category was won by Rume Kotze and Diane De Lange.

The National Braai Competition has been part of the farming community for more than 30 years and Meatco has had the privilege of being involved for more than 20 years.

“I am humbled to think that as an organisation, our involvement in the farming community spans generations, but not just with the national braai. Meatco has been around since 1980’s, and has also been working with farmers for more than 30 years,” Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, the Chairperson of the Meatco Board of Directors said at the event.

Tilahun outlined that a lot of things have changed over the last 30 years which includes Meatco’s business environment, the agriculture industry and Namibia as a country.

“But one thing that remains the same is our vision which is to act in the best interest of Meatco producers and the Namibian meat industry. This fundamental principle guides all our decisions and all our actions,” she said.

Tilahun further pointed out that while Meatco cannot guarantee that in future it will be involved in the competition in the same manner that it is today, the Corporation can guarantee its commitment to Namibia’s meat industry.

“We must change with our environment and means trying new things. What we can guarantee, like we have been doing for the last few decades, is that we will continue to increase our efforts to help create a viable meat industry for the farmers today, as well as the farmers of tomorrow and that also means trying new things.

The braai competition takes on a “ready, steady, cook” format, where the main ingredients are only revealed on the day. The theme for 2014 was “Vuur jou naam” which translates ‘Fire up your name”.

Photo Caption:

2014 BRAAI CHAMPIONS … Hochfeld Farmers Association members Deone Schlechter, Jorg von Dewit and Silke Mostert pictured with Uhlenhorst Farmers Association leader Hoekus van Niekerk  (in red) and Meatco Chief Executive Officer, Vekuii Rukoro (second from right).