Call to embrace Farmers’ Market

RUNDU – Small-scale farmers in the Kavango East have been urged to market and sell their agricultural produce at the Farmers’ Market, formerly known as the Food Namibia Trade Expo.

The Farmers’ Market is scheduled to take place from 10 to 12 October under the theme ‘Climate-smart Agricultural Systems as a Drought mitigation strategy to Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Namibia’.

The event is organised by Food Namibia, a public-private partnership initiative that brings stakeholders in government and food producers under one umbrella.

Food Namibia’s director, Manfried Likoro, said the Famers’ Market is aimed at providing a unique opportunity for consumers to meet the producers of the food they consume as well for the farmers to market their products.

He said the event is a way for small-scale farmers to present their produce as an approach to sustainable agriculture as locally grown food uses few resources.

“We want to bring together local farmers and different stakeholders involved in the food production sector to create a physical market place where they will position themselves to support the government’s calls to alleviate hunger and poverty,” said Likoro.

Asked why the organisation changed the name of the event, Likoro said they decided to rename the event because the food expo was mainly understood as an event to showcase products, while Farmers Market gives the farmers a chance to properly market their produce.

“What we really want to instil into the farmers’ minds is that this is a marketplace where they’ll need to come and sell and not to exhibit as in the past, because the food expo was understood in that way. Farmers will be provided the opportunity to make money from their produce,” Likoro said.

The event will also offer workshops to farmers on financial literacy and different issues in agriculture ranging from value addition, marketing and climate-smart agricultural systems to be partly offered by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Food Programme under the United Nations. – Nampa.