An animal auction held at Oshaambelo Production Development Centre in the Omusati region this month generated an encouraging turnover of N$373 150 from a total number of 65 animals that were sold.
Some 118 animals were brought for auction and out of this, 51 were cattle, 22 sheep and 45 goats. Auctioneer Christian Hango of Smart Auctioneers told The Namibian on Wednesday that the highest price of N$18 000 was fetched by an ox weighing 706kg.
Hango said the turnover was good for an auction in the Northern Communal Areas (NCA) with only four buyers competing to buy the animals, although they had 24 registered buyers.
He said the reason there were only four buyers is because many cattle buyers in the region opt to buy their animals through ‘informal trade,’ where they buy cattle at a cheap price as they do not face any competition.
Hango said there is a need for both sellers and buyers to be made aware that animal auctions are platforms where sellers can get a fair price for their animals because of competition. Animal auctions in the NCA are held montly and are being supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform and the Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia.
The NCA consists of Kavango East, Kavango West, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati and Kunene north regions. The ministry has called on livestock farmers in the NCA to ensure their animals are in excellent condition so that they can fetch good prices at auctions.
The ministry of agriculture says despite favourable livestock production conditions in the NCAs, formal marketing of cattle only stands at 15% of the cattle population, which is very low.
This is caused by factors ranging from the non-operational state of NCA abattoirs, missing links in the meat value chain, including inadequate logistics and processing infrastructure such as feedlots, feeder roads, tanneries and low cattle prices due to lack of access to lucrative exports markets such as the European Union, Norway, China and the United States.
