Milk Afric project finally gets pumping

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday May 13, 2024 06:00

This week, the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) revealed it has purchased 220 cattle comprising 170 dairy cows and 50 heifers from a local dairy farmer operating in Pitsane. However, the Corporation is still housing the cows at the Pitsane farm while the Milk Afric parlour is nearing completion. BDC Managing Director, Cross Kgosidiile, said implementation of the parlour is underway and expected to wet commission this month (May). The wet commissioning will result in the relocation of the cows to the Milk Afric facilities where production will be held.

“As part of the preparatory phase for operational commencement, the project recently completed a seamless dry commissioning process. “This involved comprehensive testing of the milking equipment by the manufacturer. “Successful completion of this phase will pave the way for further testing of the milking parlour with live cows,” Kgosidiile said.

At present, cows producing milk yield just over 3,000 litres per day and sell their milk locally to one of the processing plants. At peak, Milk Afric anticipates to milk 200 cows, which will generate an average of just over 3,000 litres of milk per day.

Furthermore, BDC says the strategy of Milk Afric is to build up capacity to 2,000 dairy cows over the coming years and this is a build-up from the initial herd of 220. The dairy cows Milk Afric bought are in different lactation states and ages.

“The company continues to ramp up its dairy cow numbers and actively looking to procure additional cows both locally and regionally,” he said.

At present, Milk Afric has 10 permanent employees who are involved in dairy production. All employees were trained in the USA. There are also about 59 employees working on different Milk Afric projects such as the completion of the road, water reticulation and other implementation projects. Once the parlour has been commissioned in June, Milk Afric will recruit more employees.

Since taking full control of the dairy project in 2020, BDC has spent millions on the project, which has included the costs of roads, boreholes, electricity connection rotary, fencing and working capital.

Launched amidst much pomp and fanfare in 2016, Milk Afric was set to revolutionise the country’s dairy sector, erasing the dependence on South African products and resuscitating Lobatse.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture has recently announced that Botswana continues to import the majority of its milk from neighbouring countries particularly South Africa.

Between April and December 2023, a total of 36 million litres of pasteurised milk were imported, compared to 12 million litres during the same period in the 2022–2023 financial year.