This meeting was a mind meld of fantastic proportions. One of our SMART team members, Thomas, helped our team get connected with MilkAfric Pty Ltd, which is a dairy development company bringing best practices to large-scale dairy in Botswana. The company has the capacity to produce 21 million liters of fresh milk annually which will account for one-third of domestic consumption.
It was founded by agro-preneur of Zimbabwean heritage and American citizenry, Mr. Phil Matibe. The company entered into a Public Private Partnership “PPP” with the Lobatse Town Council, where Lobatse Town Council availed a farm at Boswelatlou measuring 1375 ha on a 25 year lease. The company also entered into a partnership with the Botswana Development Corporation “BDC”. Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) is the country’s main agency for commercial and industrial development. The BDC provide both debt and equity financing to commercially viable projects as is the case the MilkAfric project. They have acquired a minority stake in company with the expectation to transition out after three to five years.
We met with the CEO and his team, an engaging set of animal scientists and promoters who had trained at the Alliance Dairies in Florida, the company’s technical partner. The operation can hold up to 3500 milking cows and 5000 cows in total (which would include young cows and cows not producing milk). There is a state-of-the-art 72 point rotary milking parlor sourced from a German farm equipment manufacturer – GEA Farm Technologies, an environmentally sustainable manure and water management system, and a herd management program. The facility has been perfectly set up for a full-scale operation….and yet, there are no cows!
A ban on the importation of cattle from outside Botswana due to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in South Africa has placed MilkAfric into a holding pattern, as all dairy cattle have been sourced directly from South Africa. Presently, the company plans to source cows from the United States in the middle of this year.
The project has been in the works since 2011. The past eight years have been categorized by the following:
- Establishing the PPP;
- Undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The EIA had to be done three times, due the neighbor’s (adjacent farm) queries and protests which were ultimately resolved by the Botswana High court and MilkAfric was given the go ahead to start development;
- Developing an efficient operational framework with the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC);
- Human resource development through training under the mentorship of Alliance Dairies and University of Florida (Department of Animal Science);
- Infrastructure development.
Botswana places a high priority on EIAs when engaging in new industrial projects. The EIA process evaluates the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, considering inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.
The team was gracious enough to walk us through the operations and discuss scale, growth planning, and relationships with local processors. This was also a great opportunity for our host to connect with other dairy partners who may be able to serve as strategic advisors in the future. We were really excited to see where this connection might take our host in the future!
SMART 2020: Botswana 