AMTA to create capacity for //Kharas farmers
Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA) is already established and is selling to the market at competitive prices.
14 April 2021 | Business
Farmers can sell faster through AMTA and will be able to know what is needed in the market and what you need to produce. Lucas Lungameni, Managing Director: AMTA
Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency (AMTA) Managing Director, Lucas Lungameni has urged farmers in the //Kharas Region to register with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform in order to market and sell their products through AMTA.
Speaking during a consultation meeting with farmers on Monday, Lungameni said when farmers register with the ministry it will be easier for them to sell their local produce as they will be selling through AMTA.
“AMTA is already established and is selling to the market at competitive prices. Farmers can sell faster through AMTA and will be able to know what is needed in the market and what you need to produce,” he said.
The registration process to establish a database on the number of farmers in the region and what they are producing, was set to start yesterday and is an ongoing process to target farmers farming in the areas of poultry, crops and horticulture only.
Lungameni said for now the agency is concentrating on those three value chains as identified by the agriculture ministry which also provides subsidies in those value chains.
“We have decided to work with the ministry. They are looking at the production and we are looking at the marketing,” he noted.
Market
AMTA Markets and Business Development Manager, Gervasius Thikusho who also spoke at the event said: “We want to find the market for the farmers and help them sell their products throughout the whole year. We need to assist them to meet the standard that is needed out there and we are here to establish the capacity this region has in terms of production,” he said.
He added that in 2019 AMTA calculated that government offices, ministries and agencies (OMAs) have spent over a N$1 billion on food supply in that year. “That is a lot of money and farmers in this region also need to take a share from that money hence the need to establish a link between the farmers and the government institutions,” he cited.
Thikusho said it is important that local farmers are able to supply food to OMAs in their respective regions before the food or products are sourced from elsewhere.
“We want to ensure that farmers in the //Kharas Region can source food and supply them to the OMAs because the government is the biggest market and it should source their food from this region before they look at other regions,” he said.– Nampa
Speaking during a consultation meeting with farmers on Monday, Lungameni said when farmers register with the ministry it will be easier for them to sell their local produce as they will be selling through AMTA.
“AMTA is already established and is selling to the market at competitive prices. Farmers can sell faster through AMTA and will be able to know what is needed in the market and what you need to produce,” he said.
The registration process to establish a database on the number of farmers in the region and what they are producing, was set to start yesterday and is an ongoing process to target farmers farming in the areas of poultry, crops and horticulture only.
Lungameni said for now the agency is concentrating on those three value chains as identified by the agriculture ministry which also provides subsidies in those value chains.
“We have decided to work with the ministry. They are looking at the production and we are looking at the marketing,” he noted.
Market
AMTA Markets and Business Development Manager, Gervasius Thikusho who also spoke at the event said: “We want to find the market for the farmers and help them sell their products throughout the whole year. We need to assist them to meet the standard that is needed out there and we are here to establish the capacity this region has in terms of production,” he said.
He added that in 2019 AMTA calculated that government offices, ministries and agencies (OMAs) have spent over a N$1 billion on food supply in that year. “That is a lot of money and farmers in this region also need to take a share from that money hence the need to establish a link between the farmers and the government institutions,” he cited.
Thikusho said it is important that local farmers are able to supply food to OMAs in their respective regions before the food or products are sourced from elsewhere.
“We want to ensure that farmers in the //Kharas Region can source food and supply them to the OMAs because the government is the biggest market and it should source their food from this region before they look at other regions,” he said.– Nampa
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