Stefanus Nambara
NKURENKURU – After graduating from the University of Namibia in 2016, Omwene-Tupopila Haitula did not get a job but never sat idle and instead ventured into farming for business.
The 31-year-old now runs a thriving poultry project in the backyard of his home at Lihaha village, just outside Mpungu Vlei in the Kavango West region under the flagship of his business, Tupo Namfood CC.
“We started off with daily products and quails and then in 2020 that’s when I diversified into poultry which is now the current main project. As you can see here, we produce table eggs that we sell to our customers and we recently started supplying to the ELCIN Nkurenkuru Health Centre. The business itself was founded before 2019 but only registered it in 2019. I’m now a fulltime poultry farmer,” he said.
Haitula said he entered the market when he saw that there was a need for table eggs at his village and Mpungu Vlei, as they would always buy them in Nkurenkuru or Rundu.
Apart from selling eggs, there is also a market for matured layers, which are slaughtered when they reach 12 months to make room for productive ones in order to keep the eggs production process going.
“We sell them because there is a market for them. There are people that want them, so we just advertise, slaughter, package and sell them,” said Haitula.
Haitula said he has one person who works at the project on a full-time basis and two temporary employees who assist in slaughtering matured layers, plucking off their feathers and packaging them.
To boost the project, Haitula indicated that last year, he received support from the agriculture ministry and also participated in the SMEs Compete pitch programme where he won an incubator.
Recently, he participated in the Old Mutual SEED initiative where he won N$25 000 which he is now using to construct a new chicken coop. Due to the condition and standard of the structures of the project, it is exposed to predators and lacks biosecurity, he said.
Haitula is also faced with other challenges such as acquiring feed and medications as they are sourced from as far as Rundu or even Windhoek and also the lack of electricity, which has prompted him to rent a place in Mpungu Vlei for his incubator.
“We do not have electricity at home, so now I have to get a place in Mpungu where I have to pay rent and it’s a bit far for me to be going every day, it’s too costly. I’ll need solar, for my incubator to be brought home, so I can work from home and not travel to Mpungu every day,” he indicated.
The young visionary poultry farmer says he would like to expand his business to other regions. He also says that he would like to receive extensive mentorship and training in poultry farming to complement his existing self-taught knowledge and skills so that he can also train other aspiring poultry farmers.