Brigitte Weidlich
3 July 2009
THE largest dairy farm in Namibia, which is currently being developed outside Mariental by the Ohlthaver & List Group, already produces 30 000 litres of milk per day from 1 000 cows and will cost about N$120 million in total, once fully developed.
"The aim is to double production eventually, but right now we produce
50 per cent of milk required in the whole of Namibia," said Ingo Stinnes, project leader for the super dairy farm for Namibia Diaries, subsidiary of the O & L Group. Production started in February.
"The rotary milking station at Mariental is one of the largest in southern Africa," Stinnes told reporters during a project presentation yesterday.
"We acquainted ourselves with the most modern technology developed in Israel and what is used in South Africa and we designed the dairy farm accordingly, adapting a few things according to what is best for Namibia," he said.
Eventually there will be four cow houses accommodating 400 dairy cows each. Roofs are built in such a way to achieve convectional cooling, while the cement floors in the walkways are cast with a special material so that the cows won't slip or hurt their hooves.
According to Hubertus Hamm, the new MD at Namibia Dairies, the N$120 million investment would not push small dairy producers out of the industry.
"There has been no large investment in the dairy sector for several years and as we speak today we receive milk from 19 producers and we appeal to all farmers who want to venture into dairy production to deliver to us, we need every drop of milk," he said. "In order to keep up with international standards, an investment like the super dairy farm had to come," Hamm added.
"This actually saves the whole industry in Namibia," he brushed aside concerns raised in some agricultural circles that small producers might have to abandon production or had already closed down.
"We pay producers currently N$4.12 at the gate, which is roughly 25 per cent higher than in the Western Cape of South Africa, for instance, where prices came down from R3.40 to R3.26 in the past few days," Hamm said.
The average retail price of a litre of fresh milk is N$11. The milk from Mariental is trucked daily to the Windhoek manufacturing plant.
Namibia Dairies is also eyeing the Angolan market for milk exports. "We export almost ten per cent to Angola and we want to increase that," Hamm added.
Adjacent to the milk production plant, 250 hectares are cultivated to produce fodder for the super dairy cows, as 30 000 tonnes will be required annually.
"We have contracted some farmers nearby to produce lucerne and hay for silage. Total hay production in the Mariental and Stampriet area is 22 000 tons per annum, so there is a gap of 8 000 tonnes that could be filled," according to Stinnes. Communal farmers could also come on board, especially with a new project of the Agriculture Ministry, which intends to allocate eight-hectare plots to qualifying communal farmers.
"We bought a huge commercial harvesting machine, which we will send to the fields of contract farms... so that individual farmers do not have to invest in a harvester themselves." Namibia Dairies is also keeping the aspect of animal welfare in mind and has made the walkabout areas in the cow houses bigger than the international norm.
The same goes for the heifers and weaner calves, which have bigger kraals. Another animal welfare aspect heeded is that cows and their calves are allowed to remain together for three days after birth to allow bonding and the immune system of the calves is boosted because they drink their mothers' colostrum-rich milk. The super dairy farm will be inaugurated by President Hifikepunye Pohamba on August 21.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
