RUNDU – The Rundu fresh produce hub has since its establishment last November sold fresh produce worth about N$900 000 and it intends greatly to improve on this figure.
Gervasius Thikusho, the marketing officer of the Agro-Marketing Trade Agency (AMTA) at the Rundu fresh produce hub said business is booming.
“We sold 300 tons of produce in a short time and all the produce was locally sourced, especially from the green scheme projects and other farms in the Grootfontein, Otavi and Tsumeb areas,” he said.
He said the AMTA commissioned three agents and three wholesale agents who sell the produce for the agency, while the AMTA acts as facilitator. The AMTA finds the market for the produce as well as the market for producers.
Thikusho said consumers seem contented with the produce as he’s never heard complaints from consumers regarding the quality of produce.
“The produce is of good quality,” he said, adding that international buyers are now also beng sought.
“Like now we got a client in Angola that bought 3 000kg of grapes and we are now preparing the load to be delivered in Angola. We got these grapes from local farmers in southern Namibia,” he said.
“Angola is not the only market we are looking at. AMTA wants to get more foreign buyers from other African countries. We are in the process of searching for more international markets and we already have other potential markets like Zambia and other neighbouring countries, even overseas, we are busy working on that,” said the marketing officer.
The AMTA also trains small-scale farmers on good agricultural practice to ensure good produce. “We recently held a training session with small-scale farmers of Salem (small-scale farmers to the immediate east of Rundu) on good agricultural practice and we are targeting all farmers on the aspects of good agricultural practice as well as linking small-scale farmers to agents on the floor once they have harvested their produce. The aim is also to inspire the farmers to produce market ready produce,” he eplained.
AMTA encourages local retailers to support the fresh produce hub by buying from the hub.
By John Muyamba