Mpasinkuru auction’s local buyers dry up

Mpasinkuru auction organisers are struggling to attract local buyers, despite Kavango West cattle fetching nearly N$1 million and offering superior grazing quality for regional farmers.

The monthly auction is held at Nepara village.

Auctioneer George Haufiku, a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform official, says last month’s auction attracted few buyers, with most being from the Oshana, Ohangwena, and Omusati regions.

“We have limited local buyers to support local sellers. We depend mainly on buyers from these regions, not local buyers,” he says.
Haufiku says buyers from the four ‘O’ regions prefer cattle from the two Kavango regions and the Zambezi region due to the animals’ access to good grazing.

Auctions help local farmers get good prices for their cattle, he says.

The last animal auction at Nepara village generated N$925 300 from 126 ofhead of cattle and goats from local farmers.

Only six buyers registered, while 51 farmers registered to sell their cattle.

Haufiku says auctions are the fairest way for farmers to sell their animals and to promote competition.

Tomas Ngoma, a member of the Mpasinkuru auction organising committee, says farmers in the past were somehow reluctant to put their animals on auction.

“Education has played a role and people are now encouraged to take good care of their cattle, give them supplements, and to vaccinate them,” he says.

Japhet Haironga, an animal receiver at the Mpasinkuru auction pen, says the main aim of conducting the auction once a month is to provide local farmers with a market for their animals.

He says the animals on auction are mainly from villages such as Iinsu, Sirikunga, Nge, Sikuba, Siraro, Tjohwa, Mukekete, Zingizi and Tondoro.

Haironga calls on the government to set up a roofing structure over the goats’ holding kraal, as they often get wet while waiting to be auctioned off in the rain.

The next animal auction at Nepara will be held on 14 March.

Agriculture ministry spokesperson Simon Nghipandulwa says the ministry can do nothing to increase the number of buyers in the two Kavango regions, as auctions are private initiatives.

He says auction prices in the Kavango West and Kavango East regions are generally low compared to those in the four ‘O’ regions.
“Their prices are around N$6 000 per cattle, while in the four ‘O’ regions they are much higher than that.”

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