Woman farmer wins bull

MEATCO held its annual Producer of the Year Awards for farmers in the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs) last week.

Meatco divided its producers into three production regions: the areas south of the Red Line or veterinary cordon fence, the central northern regions including Kunene, and Kavango and Caprivi. Farmers south of the cordon fence are more advanced in terms of the genetic composition of their herds and quality of slaughter animals compared to their counterparts in the NCAs.To help communal farmers improve on the quality of their herds, Meatco gave four quality bulls to winning farmers to improve the quality of slaughter animals.History was made when a woman snatched the top price for the first time and won a young Brahman bull at the awards.Elizabeth Nghihepa, a station commander at the Okatope Police Station, was the lucky woman.”I urge women to stand up and to be counted in a profession previously regarded as only for men,” Nghihepa said at the award ceremony in Ondangwa for producers from the Kunene, Kavango, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena and Omusati regions.According to Moses Kandjoze, Communications Officer at Meatco, the other bull was won by Samuel Seketa, a young farmer from the Kavango Region.”At this event stakeholders in the farming sector from all the regions attended for the first time,” Kandjoze said.In both the animal categories – below 50 cattle and above – second prizes went to Mahina Oiva and Simon Kanepolo.At Katima Mulilo in the category up to 50 animals, Caprivi farmer Raphael Luoke won the first price and Vivien Sihela took second price.In the category of 51 animals and above, Alfred Mutakalilumo won the first price, and Fidelis Sinvula took the second price.It was the third time in succession that Mutakalilumo had won a bull at the Meatco Producer of the Year awards.The runners-up each pocketed bags of animal feed from Feedmaster.Speaking at both occasions, Meatco Board Chairman Arne Gressmann urged recipients to take good care of the bulls.He also urged them to use them to improve the genetic composition of their herds.”This will not only lead to an increase in production, but also to an increase in quality,” Gressmann said.Farmers south of the cordon fence are more advanced in terms of the genetic composition of their herds and quality of slaughter animals compared to their counterparts in the NCAs.To help communal farmers improve on the quality of their herds, Meatco gave four quality bulls to winning farmers to improve the quality of slaughter animals.History was made when a woman snatched the top price for the first time and won a young Brahman bull at the awards.Elizabeth Nghihepa, a station commander at the Okatope Police Station, was the lucky woman.”I urge women to stand up and to be counted in a profession previously regarded as only for men,” Nghihepa said at the award ceremony in Ondangwa for producers from the Kunene, Kavango, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena and Omusati regions.According to Moses Kandjoze, Communications Officer at Meatco, the other bull was won by Samuel Seketa, a young farmer from the Kavango Region.”At this event stakeholders in the farming sector from all the regions attended for the first time,” Kandjoze said.In both the animal categories – below 50 cattle and above – second prizes went to Mahina Oiva and Simon Kanepolo.At Katima Mulilo in the category up to 50 animals, Caprivi farmer Raphael Luoke won the first price and Vivien Sihela took second price.In the category of 51 animals and above, Alfred Mutakalilumo won the first price, and Fidelis Sinvula took the second price.It was the third time in succession that Mutakalilumo had won a bull at the Meatco Producer of the Year awards.The runners-up each pocketed bags of animal feed from Feedmaster.Speaking at both occasions, Meatco Board Chairman Arne Gressmann urged recipients to take good care of the bulls.He also urged them to use them to improve the genetic composition of their herds.”This will not only lead to an increase in production, but also to an increase in quality,” Gressmann said.