Times Of Swaziland: FARMERS SELL CATTLE BY PUBLIC AUCTION

FARMERS SELL CATTLE BY PUBLIC AUCTION
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  BY KWANELE DHLADHLA  on 06/10/2017 01:16:00


MBABANE – To avert the unfortunate scenario where hundreds of farmers
helplessly watched their cattle die during the El Nino induced drought, farmers
are already selling their cattle through public auction.
Following predictions by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
weather experts that disaster might strike again, as the region is expected to
receive normal to below-normal rainfall, for most of the period of October to
December 2017 four auctions to dispose cattle have been conducted.
The fourth cattle auction was conducted at Sithobela in the newly constructed
cattle sale yard.
This was the first auction conducted in the yard since its completion in July
this year amounting to E138 000.
Besides Sithobela, other constituencies that are implementing the project
include Lomahasha, Mpolonjeni, Lubulini, Matsanjeni and Somntongo.
The next auction will be held at Matsanjeni on October 26, 2017.
The project was funded by USAID/OFDA under the El Nino Agriculture and Food
Security Project and implemented by World Vision Swaziland.
A total of E167 290 00 was generated after the sale of livestock to business
people and farmers last week. The livestock included 30 cattle, 17 goats and 14
poultry.
The highest, among the Inguni- Brahman cross breeds, was bought for E6 400 and
the lowest at E3 500. The highest goat was bought at E1200 and the lowest at
E450 while the highest chicken was sold at E200 and the lowest at E60.
Besides facilitating auctions in this constituency, World Vision has provided
hay bales, cattle feed to mitigate the drought and trainings that were done by
officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, who trained farmers about how to
conduct cattle auctions and how best to take care of their animals.