TSUMEB – The town of Tsumeb is not only known for its copper but it is also popular for the fruit and vegetable fields in the surrounding areas.
The fields are so fertile that farmers produce fruit and vegetables throughout the year.
As the festive season approaches vegetable and fruit vendors have stocked up on a variety of fruit and vegetables to sell as holidaymakers visit or pass through the copper town this season.
Anna Shipahu, one of the vendors, has been operating a stall at the Tsumeb open market for the past ten years.
She is one of many that previously worked for Namfo an agricultural farm about 10 km out of Tsumeb. After she retired she has been selling fruit and vegetables for a living.
She said the produce is organic and not chemically infused.
She acknowledges the biggest competitors of vendors remain the big supermarkets.
“Our vegetables are fresh from the fields and December is a great time to make money especially from holidaymakers that are going through Tsumeb to the north,” she said.
Tsumeb and surrounding areas have received good rains in recent weeks. “The rain has helped our fields and our sales have already started picking up,” enthuses Abner Auchab a farmer in the surrounding areas of Tsumeb.
Auchab however called on government to assist them to set up shops to be able to sell more produce as many people don’t like stopping by the roadside to buy fruit and vegetables.
By Rochelle Neidel