Zebaldt Ngaruka 

Farmers in the Kunene region have been urged to do away with the old habits of farming for prestige but rather start moving towards farming for profit and strive to access lucrative markets. 

This was the advice of two Agribank technical advisors, who recently held an information sharing session with farmers at Otjimuhaka in Kunene. 

One of the bank’s technical advisors Erastus Ngaruka highlighted the worrying trend of farmers selling one goat at a time at low prices as opposed to selling them in groups in order to get more money for their animals. 

“It’s high time to organise yourselves and start selling in groups to avoid unnecessary costs like transportation and related costs. Just imagine selling one goat today because you need sugar and then selling another one a few days later because you need something else; it’s not productive at all. The transport cost will be a problem because of the far distance from your village,” said Ngaruka.

He added that farmers should start finding ways to add value to their kraals after selling their animals.  

“When you sell your cattle or goats, make sure to buy their medication and feed supplements. These animals must be the priority because they feed the family,” he emphasised. 

nother technical advisor, Hanks Saisai, who presented on crop production, emphasised the importance of gardens in the community and displayed various methods of growing crops. 

He urged crop farmers to always concentrate on the distance between lines and beds as important
aspects.

“This distance enables your crops to grow well without difficulties if they are well measured and separated. The formula used in that regard is the area of the garden, i.e. height multiplied by width divided by space between rows. The the seed size determines the lines as well,” alluded Saisai, who urged crop farmers to always read the information on the backside of seeds packets.

He also said soil testing is important and demonstrated the easiest way to test whether the soil is viable for gardening or not. 

“You can put the soil from your garden between your fingers, and if it is soft, it shows that soil is not suitable for growing crops. It must be rough.” 

On poultry farming, Saisai said the industry is growing, and farmers must make use of it. He told farmers that chickens meant for consumption are muscled and take 42 days from birth to reach the digestible level. 

-zngaruka@yahoo.com