Virtual livestock marketing platforms; an idea whose time has come

02 Aug, 2020 - 00:08 0 Views
Virtual livestock marketing platforms; an idea whose time has come

The Sunday News

Mhlupheki Dube

THE annual national bull sale which was scheduled for end of last month was cancelled due to the increasingly ravaging coronavirus pandemic.

This was a necessary and well-advised decision in line with globally set disease containment measures. Just to fill in some who may not be in the know, the annual national bull sale which is run by CC Sales and its partners, is a premier event in the livestock industry especially cattle ranching.

It is the event where you meet the crème de la crème of livestock breeders. It is the ultimate fulfilment occasion of breeders and commercial producers as breeders sell their top-notch genetics and commercial producers pick them up for their herd improvement.

It does not get any better, any higher and any more prestigious for the cattlemen than the annual bull sale. Now when such an event is cancelled even for legitimate reasons as was the case in this instance, the effects are far reaching in the industry.

It is not only an anti-climax effect for the breeders who would have spent the whole year preparing for this one-day event but a disappointment for the buyers who were looking forward to picking top genetics for their herds.

However, this brings to the fore the need for the livestock industry, just like any other industry for that matter, to adjust to the new normal.

The new normal dictates that social and physical interactions are now a danger to one’s health and must be minimised or avoided at all cost.

This new normal is likely to be with us for some time but life and businesses have to go on. How then should we continue with business in the new normal? This is the import of this week’s instalment. It is about time the livestock auctions industry embraces virtual platforms for selling their products.

I have alluded to this before in one of my contributions on this platform but I need to solidify this. If companies and organisations have successfully moved from holding physical meetings and conferences to virtual ones, it tells us that the inertia to change was just but due to the lack of necessity.

These days even job seekers get to be interviewed via through online platforms without necessarily having to travel to an interview room in some town or city. You can attend the interview in your car via your smartphone as long as you have the connectivity.

Is it not possible for livestock auctioneers to hold online virtual auctions and farmers sell and buy their livestock from the comfort of their spaces wherever they are domiciled? If a Japanese vehicle sales company can set up a website and sell used cars to places all over the globe, why and how is it difficult for livestock sales organisations to set up a similar platform for buyers and sellers to trade in Zimbabwe?

It is my submission that it’s about time the livestock sales organisations begin to think not only outside the proverbial box but without the box at all! Is it not possible for auctioneers to collect latest best photos of the animals that are being sold and post them on some virtual platform for buyers to view and throw in their bids?

In fact, it is already happening on some WhatsApp platforms where farmers throw in pictures of their animals, contact details and the asking price. Those interested then inbox the person and the deal is concluded outside the platform.

I am sure reputable commercial livestock auctioneers can pull this off. All they need to do is engage an IT person and pilot this and see how the uptake is. While I accept that the majority of our smallholder livestock farmers will have no access to this platform due to lack of mobile networks connectivity in their areas, change is always better when it comes gradually as opposed to drastically.

Those with connectivity and the right type of phones will come in and slowly others with non-compatible phones will migrate to smartphones as it becomes an important tool for selling their livestock.

In any case many of these farmers now use smartphones because of communication platforms such as WhatsApp. I move that livestock auctioneers start online virtual livestock auctions in whatever format and help livestock producers sell their products because this pandemic will be with us for some time.

Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.

Feedback [email protected]/ cell 0772851275.

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