Membership has its benefits

Membership of the NTBIC has the following practical benefits:

• The NTBIC acts as the main channel of communication between Government and the buffalo industry, and also between the buffalo industry and other industry stakeholders, such as exporters, the NLC, Aboriginal Ranger groups and Rum Jungle Abattoir. A good example is the NTBIC’s input into government regulations for buffalo harvest, transport, export preparation and shipping, which are markedly different from cattle regulations as they deal with quite different issues.

• The NTBIC provides market development and information, such as overseas trade delegations, filling of export orders, and negotiation with abattoirs. A good example is the NTBIC’s work in designing facilities at the abattoirs to adapt loading ramps and stunning equipment to manage buffalo. 50 countries are accessible for Australian boxed buffalo meat however import protocols are still to be drafted for Australian buffalo meat into Vietnam.

• The NTBIC collaborates in research and helps to guide research priorities. In the last few years, the NTBIC has been working with CSIRO to study ways of humane stunning that would be acceptable for Halal slaughter. This project is now complete. The NTBIC is actively engaged with AgriFutures to develop the 2021-2025 Strategic RD&E plan for buffalo. The NTBIC’s main research priority is reducing mortalities in the live export chain and the development of mobile processing facilities for improved WHS, traceability and biosecurity outcomes in the field.

• The NTBIC works to safeguard the industry’s social licence to operate. Social licence has historically been defined as the acceptance granted to an organisation, or industry, by the community, closely aligned with meeting community expectations and trust. The main recent example is the NTBIC’s Code of Practice, which is gradually becoming the standard operating procedure that the market insists on. The Code of Practice provides a quality assurance framework for the industry.

• The NTBIC has a strategic plan aimed at increasing the size of the industry. The market complications, which brought the buffalo industry below a viable scale in the 1990s and 2000s arose from BTEC. This has started to turn round in the last five years, but growing the industry is essential to the industry’s future prosperity. The limitation is not the market nor the stock numbers in Arnhem Land, but the supply chain between the two. The NTBIC is planning a Round table to bring all stakeholders together to specifically focus on supply chain issues.

• The NTBIC provides information to the media and public to enhance the image of the industry and in response to events or issues arising.

• The NTBIC in conjunction with the Australian Buffalo Industry Council writes and distributes a quarterly newsletter to a wide distribution readership.

• The NTBIC role has increased as the NT Government’s scientific capacity in buffalo has declined, and this is likely to further increase with reductions in buffalo numbers at Beatrice Hill.

• Since the COVID-19 pandemic members have benefitted from the NTBIC’s assistance to develop and implement COVID-19 Management Plans, address training requirements, manage PPE supplies and deal with internal and external border restrictions whilst continuing to meet demand for supply. The NTBIC presented a consistent and coherent voice to Government and key stakeholders on the impacts of COVID-19 decisions on the buffalo industry.