Africa-Press – Lesotho. Farmers were spoiled for choice during the auction of the merino sheep and ewes and angora bucks organised by the Wool and Mohair Promotion Project (WAMPP) at Quthing sheep stud on Wednesday this week.
This was the fourth auction in a row organised by WAMPP for smallholder farmers. Previously Basotho farmers would attend auctions for merino and agora in South Africa (SA).
This auction had also attracted farmers from SA. The merino ram went under the hammer for M21 000.00. The highest bid was a twin ram born on July 31, 2020, he
weighs 64 kg with a fibre diameter of 22, measuring 72 millimetres in staple length and boasting 99.3 percent of the comfort factor and 73.9 percent clean
yield. Speaking at the event, the acting Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Hon. Letsitsi Mokoma said there is now no need for Basotho farmers to go to SA and buy the improved sheep and goat breeds as Lesotho now
has the capacity to grow such. President of Lesotho National Wool and Mohair Growers Association (LNWMGA) Mokoenehi Thinyane said the auction has been a success
adding that their SA counterparts were “taken aback as they did not anticipate to see the kind [improved merino sheep and angora goats] that they saw.
“I deem this auction as one of the highest standards,” noted the LNWMGA President. Noting this year’s auction success, the WAMPP Project
Manager Retšelisitsoe Khoalenyane said it was not as successful as the previous year’s, specifically of 2021 which was the third one in a row. WAMPP has in October 2020 launched the breeding plan
which has four implementation strategies namely; the artificial insemination, private commercial breeders, donation of improved semen to the studs and
culling and exchange programme. WAMPP is among others mandated to “boost the economy and climate resilience of poor wool and mohair producers in the Mountain and
Foothills Regions of Lesotho”. The event was graced by the presence of His Majesty King Letsie III, Quthing’s Principal Chief Seeiso Nkuebe and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Country Director for Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia, Dr Phillip Baumgartner.
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