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Set up marketing facilities and community structures

Farmer's Weekly

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October 20, 2023

Avoid the situation where buyers are expected to struggle while processing and later loading your livestock because of poor or non-existent facilities

- Shane Brody

Set up marketing facilities and community structures

In the many years I have spent running development and skills transferral projects in communal farming areas, I have noticed a distinct problem that occurs across vast expanses of these areas, and this relates to a lack of handling or loading facilities where livestock can be viewed, sorted, and loaded by prospective buyers or agents. The same counts for facilities needed to process and market crops and vegetable produce.

Essentially, you can produce good quality livestock, but if buyers are expected to struggle while processing and later loading your livestock because of poor or non-existent facilities, there will ultimately be two detrimental outcomes. Firstly, reputable buyers will stop buying in your village, and secondly, buyers prepared to struggle under these circumstances (often being unscrupulous buyers) will often pay you way less than what your livestock is actually worth on the open market.

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