WINDHOEK – The Ongwediva hub marketing officer Sakeus Enkono says their operations are moving smoothly with the majority of customers flocking to the centre during the festive season and public holidays when many couples wed.
Enkono stressed that the busiest period is normally the festive season and August, while daily customers are normally informal vendors and retailers. The months of August to December are regarded as the Namibian wedding season when scores of people flock to the north.
Both the Ongwediva and Rundu hubs have sold produce worth over N$4.1 million and have moved over 900 metric tons of produce since inception.
Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA) which is responsible for both hubs attributed the relatively small figure to the fact that when the hubs started operating, farmers had already planted their produce based on the existing market at the time.
Enkono also said the hub currently has produce available including potatoes, onions, butternuts, fresh tomatoes, green peppers and carrots which are sourced from the government green schemes and commercial farmers.
He says Namibia does not produce fruit in bulk for market purposes, and most available fruits such as apples, pears, bananas and oranges are sourced from South Africa and stocked in the hubs.
Since Cabinet gave a directive for companies catering to government institutions to procure from AMTA hubs, Enkono said mainly two companies contracted by the ministries of education and health and social services are making use of the hubs.
“Nutri-food catering company which provides food to hospitals in Oshana Region procures from us, while Tulipamwe Catering is contracted by government to provide food to schools. So the hubs are not empty. We have a lot of produce. We want to keep the produce as fresh as possible. You need to keep bringing in and taking out to avoid the produce from getting spoiled,” he explained.
Enkono said there is still need for more engagement so that more retailers procure produce from the hubs, as it’s only Spar that currently gets produce from the Ongwediva hub on a constant basis.
However, AMTA attributed the absence of a coordinated marketing approach among local producers as the reason why the newly established fresh produce hubs are yet to effectively establish their presence in the retail market.
At the root of the marketing problem are farmers who tend to produce one specific type of produce and thus effectively flood the market with similar produce in a given season, without guarantees of being able to supply markets with quality produce over a prolonged time.
More often than not farmers do this because of climate conditions, the ease of production and storability.
Meke Uushona, the corporate branding and promotions officer for the government’s AMTA, earlier said: “Farmers produce first and then look for the market later as they have to make a living. Therefore, there are shortages and flooding of produce in the markets during certain seasons.”
He added that efforts are, however, already underway to set up a synchronized production calendar to supply the hubs as per market demands, and to have a demand-driven production.
AMTA has hubs in Rundu and Ongwediva, constructed at hundreds of millions of dollars to serve as storage facilities and facilitate the marketing of local produce on behalf of the farmers.
AMTA says its Rundu hub alone currently has about 1.5 metric tons of potatoes, 2 metric tons of onions, 1.8 metric tons of pumpkins, 300kg of tomatoes, 500 kg of apples, as well as green pepper, lettuce and green beans in smaller quantities.