Animal feed crushing machine launched

A RURAL development centre in Ongwediva has launched an animal crushing machine. The machine was made in Ongwediva by artisans at the centre.

The machine processes mahangu, maize, corn and other grains which are used as animal feed.

Nico Aipumbu, a marketing officer at the Ongwediva Rural Development Centre, said requests and demands from visitors of the show last year resulted in the centre creating the machine.

“People who visited the fair last year saw some of our products and told us they need something to crush animal foods that are either too big or too hard for their animals to eat,” he said.

The centre has also produced other agriculture products for rural needs and caters for Oshana, Ohangwena, Omusati and Oshikoto.

Equipment produced at the centre include mahangu steel storage containers, mahangu thrashers, ventilated toilets and mahangu crushers.

Aipumbu said the hammer and mahangu thrashers are the most frequently demanded.

Through research and innovation, the centre currently makes different products from a hibiscus subdariffe, commonly known as as mutete. Products made from mutete are jam, bites, spinach, juice and tea.

Apart from their own artisans at the centre, ORDC offers internships to students from the Ongwediva Vocational Training centre as well as from the University of Namibia engineering campus.

The centre also provides training to local communities.

“We do all this free of charge”, said Aipumbu, adding that although one of the centre’s future goals is to commercialise local natural resource products, the plan is to make sure that more people are trained in making the products.

“The purpose is to empower communities to manage themselves economically”, he said citing that in hard times like it is with the current drought, the communities are always hard hit.

The centre was established in 1988 with the purpose of providing appropriate technology in the northern rural areas. It is currently under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and is currently run by a consultancy firm on a contract basis.