Meatco Foundation supports Ohangwena Cooperative

WINDHOEK – The Meatco Foundation, Meatco’s corporate social investment wing, has been supporting individuals and farmers’ organisations to improve their plight of farmers, especially in communal areas, focusing on the livestock sector. The foundation has been doing this by providing technical support, business plan developments, facilitating financial support by means of donors and implementing support projects and farming interventions.

Recently, the foundation supported the Ohangwena Livestock Marketing Cooperative (OHLMC) in a project proposal development, which was funded by Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through their Small Grants Programme (SGP). 
The project focuses on conservation agriculture (CA), rangeland and livestock management, and livestock marketing at Omupanda, Ekulu and Wangolo grazing areas in the region. The project, which started in November 2018, allows the Meatco Foundation to provide technical support in the implementation of its activities.  

Thus far, three cluster trainings in rangeland and livestock management and CA trainings have been conducted. CA farmers also received fertilisers while livestock farmers conducted the over-seeding of perennial grass.  

Furthermore, three auctions have been held since the commencement of the project through which tents, generators and other equipment were procured to enable operations and support farmers and members.

According to Meatco Foundation’s project manager, Kuniberth Shamathe, the foundation has facilitated business plan development for OHLMC, which was funded by Agribank through the Directorate of Cooperatives Division and Regulation (DCDR) to procure two tractors.

“The two tractors were received in 2018 and are used for ripper furrowing, hence complementing the CA component of the GEF-OHLMC project. The farmers and OHLMC members have also benefited from ripper furrowing services during 2018/2019 and the ploughing services amounted to more than 50 hectares prepared by January 2019,” Shamathe said.

The aforementioned interventions have improved income generation for the cooperative by means of the ploughing services and commissions.