Valery Haradoes, a strong, passionate farmer and teacher was born and bred in a farming family in the Uis area. Having started with a few indigenous chickens, Haradoes is now a seasoned poultry, livestock and crop farmer on Farm Aniswept in the Uis area of the Erongo region.
Haradoes started her poultry enterprise in 2019, following training held by Agribank and further training interventions in 2021, targeting women and youth, supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
Armed with new knowledge of different poultry enterprises, she commenced with broiler production and dual-purpose breeds, incorporating Koekoek, Sussex, Naked-Neck and Black Australorp.
She attended further interventions, where she was exposed to a vegetable garden establishment after which she commenced gardening and harvested her first crops in 2022.
Upon interviewing her, Haradoes expressed how she obtained critical skills in poultry farming, such as the construction of poultry housing, application of poultry medicines, poultry feed, maintaining hygiene in the coop, sourcing markets and many more skills that she continues to implement.
She currently farms with a complement of 130 birds, consisting of a mix of dual-purpose birds, doves, ducks and layers, and has ordered 50 broilers and 30 points of lay birds to continue with her enterprise.
Moreover, she possesses over 170 small stock and has planted a variety of vegetables in her garden, including cabbage, carrots, beetroot, chillies, onion, pumpkin, watermelon, green pepper, tomatoes, granadilla and some fig trees.
As with all farming enterprises, Haradoes expressed that she faces a myriad of challenges, including the high cost of feed, market limitations, the cost and availability of medicines in the area, transportation costs, the availability of day-old chicks, unreliable suppliers, birds that frequently invade her crops and stock theft.
Despite these challenges, Haradoes has found means to overcome them, and she currently sells her broiler chickens and eggs to customers in Okombahe, Omaruru as well as to locals in the Uis area.
Moreover, she markets her livestock at auctions in Otjiwarongo and sells some to locals in the area as well.
Lastly, Haradoes encouraged fellow farmers, especially young women, to take up poultry farming to generate income and feed their families.
She further mentioned the joys of farming that allow one to be self-sufficient and advised that training interventions should be followed by support for farmers – either through basic farm inputs or small loans that will allow farmers to start up and empower themselves. - Agribank