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Corporations make a killing milking Africa

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A Ugandan cattle herder with indigenous Ankole Long-horned cattle searches for pasture, in an area where local lands were grabbed by a foreign company for a plantation.

In 2009, the Nigerian government gave some white farmers from Zimbabwe loans and 1,000 hectares (ha) of land each to set up dairy farms in Shonga, an important centre of agriculture about 400 km from the capitol Lagos. Hopes were that their “ultra-modern” farms, stocked with Jersey cows brought in from South Africa, would make a dent in the country’s massive dairy import bill.[1]
“I saw an opportunity here … and I can tell you now there is no doubt I am here for the long term,” said David Higgins, a South African hired to manage the operation’s milk plant, which became a supplier of fresh milk to FrieslandCampina, the Dutch dairy corporation that has dominated the Nigerian market for decades.
However, less than ten years later, the project had all but collapsed. Most of the Zimbabwean farmers had left, and those remaining were “drawing their exit plan”, as one Nigerian researcher put it.[2]
It turns out imported Jersey cows and white “modern” farmers were not the solution to Nigeria’s dairy import woes. The problem, as every cattle herder in Nigeria knows, is the competition with the cheap imported powdered milk that companies like FrieslandCampina dump into the country. The Zimbabwean farmers and their modern methods were equally powerless against it.
Nigeria imports about 98% of the dairy products consumed in the country and spends an average of USD 1.3 billion a year on these imports. It is also the world’s biggest importer of fat-filled milk powder from Europe– a cheap milk lookalike that is made with a mix of milk powders and palm oil that has nearly quadrupled in exports from Europe over the past decade.[3] FrieslandCampina, which brings in huge quantities of subsidised powdered milk from its dairy plants in Europe, controls about 75% of the Nigerian dairy market, with just five companies controlling 99% of it.
Yet Nigeria has one of the largest cattle herds in the world and has a long tradition of local dairy production. By all accounts, things should be similar to Kenya, where herders and small farmers with local breeds of cows supply about 90% of the milk consumed in the country through networks of small-scale traders. The difference is that Kenya has long protected its local dairies with tariffs on imports, while Nigeria opened its market in the 1980s under structural adjustment programmes, and the government has made no real efforts to reign in the import flows ever since.

FrieslandCampina, headquartered in the Netherlands, is in 38 countries and distributes to 100 countries. In every country, they operate as a different company with different brands. It has operated as Bonnet Rouge in West Africa; in Nigeria as Peak and Three Crowns and as WamCo. In Ethiopia, they are the largest investors in the dairy sector operating as Holland Dairy. Together with Syngenta and other agro-chemical companies, Friesland Campina, hopes to be the leader by 2024 in the marketing of Eubiotics – a USD 4 billion industry. Photo : FrieslandCampina DMV plant in The Netherlands, 2014. Wikimedia Commons; User J187B
FrieslandCampina likes to blame the “poor structure of local dairy supply chains” for the situation, and whenever the political scene gets too hot, it rolls out promises to invest in “developing” the dairy sector. It built its first large-scale dairy farm in Nigeria in Vom in the Plateau State, back in 1984, but sold the operation, called Integrated Dairies, to a Nigerian politician a decade later.[4] More recently, with funding from the Dutch government, the company launched a Dairy Development Programme with the Government of Nigeria, in which it pledged to source 10% of its milk from local sources through “backward integration”. Yet, over the initial five years of the project, from 2011-2016, Nigeria’s milk powder imports remained unchanged, and FrieslandCampina was only sourcing 3% of its milk locally.[5]
In 2016, with oil prices tanking and its foreign currency reserves badly depleted, the Nigerian government sought to put milk on a list of imported items with forex restrictions to encourage local production. But after several meetings with FrieslandCampina, in which the company assured the government that it would build up local supplies, the government-backed down.
Three years later, with dairy imports as high as ever, the government finally put milk on the list, accusing companies of treating the “national aspiration [to increase the local milk supply] with imperial contempt”.[6] The companies pushed back hard, however, and the government relented yet again, giving FrieslandCampina and five other corporations an exemption on the import restrictions in February 2020, saying that these companies were committed to “backwards integration”.
This latest round of public-private partnership is closely tied to a controversial ban on open grazing that 17 state governors from across southern Nigeria agreed to in May 2021, and which has been called “satanic” by herder leaders.[7] To this end, FrieslandCampina has been given 10,000 ha and Coca-Cola 4,000 ha within the Bobi Grazing Reserve in Niger State to build dairy farms and settle Fulani herders for contract production. Similarly, the Danish multinational dairy company Arla has a partnership with Kaduna State to build its own dairy farm and to settle 1,000 nomadic herders on farmlands provided by the government. The Dutch and Danish governments are helping to fund these projects and provide the participating herders with “improved” crossbred cattle and training on European-style dairy farming, as is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through a programme called Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria.
Ndidi Nwuneli (right), Sahel Consulting managing partner, visiting Genetics Australia in 2018. 
The Gates-funded programme is a collaboration with six dairy companies in Nigeria, coordinated by Sahel Consulting (formerly Sahel Capital). One of the companies, L&Z Integrated Farms Limited, is owned by a Mauritius-based private equity fund managed by Sahel Consulting that has investment from the German, Dutch and UK development banks, as well as Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund.[8] Arla is another one of the companies involved, and the rest are Nigerian dairy companies mostly owned by local politicians or their family members.[9]
Sahel says it is taking a “private sector-led and market-based approach to solve the problems inherent in the dairy sector”, but it completely sidesteps the biggest problem: imports of cheap, subsidised powdered milk. The project’s attempt to shift herders to expensive, European-style dairy farming is thus doomed to fail, just as the Zimbabwean farmers did at Shonga and all past efforts to “modernise” Nigeria’s dairy sector have. This is, after all, the main reason why herders from Nigeria and the surrounding countries, who have had no problem meeting Nigeria’s galloping consumption of beef over the past decades, have been shut out of the dairy market.[10]
A milk mafia
Similar scenarios are mushrooming across Africa. It is no wonder. The continent’s fast-growing urban populations represent a pot of gold for dairy corporations. FrieslandCampina made a whopping USD 48 million in profit from its Nigeria operations in 2019.[11] Now it wants to double its revenues in Africa by expanding in other countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, where the company’s recently acquired dairy plant relies entirely on imports. When asked about this lack of local sourcing, FrieslandCampina’s West Africa director, Roger Adou, said the company was in the process of building an “ecosystem” of local dairy farmers trained in Dutch farming methods. “You cannot blame multinational corporations for the poor organisation of local supply chains,” he said.[12]
Another big player in Africa is the French dairy giant Danone, which joined forces with the Dubai-based private equity company Abraaj Group to take over the Ghana dairy company Fan Milk. After Abraaj went bust, Danone took over the whole company in 2019, using it as a base to expand its reach across West Africa, including in Nigeria, where it has a “backward integration” project with Ogun State.
All of the local dairy projects that these foreign corporations are pursuing should be properly understood as fronts, designed to distract from the massive amounts of money they siphon out of Africa from their sales of cheap, excess powdered milk. The system is built on heavily subsidised overproduction in Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand. That excess gets dumped into Africa, mainly in the form of fat-filled milk powder, where it is processed and sold to urban consumers at prices that undercut the supply of wholesome local milk. In 2019 Africa imported 2.1 million tonnes of dairy products worth some USD5.3 billion, up from 1.46 million tonnes in 2009, worth USD3.6 billion).[13] [14]
The cream on top
In Africa, dairy is often political, with direct interests extending to the highest levels of government. No more so in Kenya, where the family of the President, Uhuru Kenyatta, owns Brookside Dairy, the largest dairy processor in East Africa. Brookside has attracted several foreign partners, including Abraaj Group of Dubai, which held a 10% stake via a fund partly owned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation before its collapse in 2018, and the French dairy giant Danone, which currently holds a 40% stake.
Brookside is expanding beyond its borders through the acquisition of other politically-connected dairy companies in neighbouring countries. In 2016, Brookside took over Inyange, Rwanda’s top food processing company connected to President Paul Kagame’s party.[15] And, the year before it bought the former Ugandan Dairy Corporation, which had been privatised through a scandalous corrupt bidding process and acquired by a family close to President Yoweri Museveni, who himself is rumoured to be one of Brookside’s leading suppliers of milk through his large-scale ranches.[16]
Donors insist that Africa’s reliance on imports can be resolved by “modernising” their farms and supply chains. The Gates Foundation supports multiple initiatives in Africa to boost per farm milk production by replacing local breeds with high-yielding breeds and introducing commercial animal feeds and pharmaceuticals, such as the East Africa Dairy Development Project in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.[17] So too do the governments of the Netherlands, France and Denmark– home base to the largest companies exporting dairy to Africa.[18] (Box: Africa’s rich livestock diversity) Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States has launched a five-year “dairy offensive” based on the same model, as its member states move ahead with trade deals with Europe that will reduce tariffs on milk powder from a feeble 5% to zero![19]
Private equity funds are also piling into Africa, with much of their funds supplied by development banks and foundations convinced that there’s money to be made in this modernisation drive. Yet, of the multiple investments private equity firms have made in local African dairy production, few are succeeding (Table: Private equity funds and dairy in Africa). Dubai-based Midcom, for example, tried to buy into the dairy business in Uganda in 2013, with backing from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Rise Fund, a US-based private equity fund managed by TPG. It’s subsidiary, Pearl Dairies, claimed it would not only become a major player on the national market, but that it would build an export business to neighbouring African countries. But a trade spat with Kenya, where the local dairy industry is controlled by the family of the president, sent the company into a tailspin (Box: The cream on top). In March 2021, Pearl Dairies announced it was shuttering its Ugandan dairy plant and shifting to organic honey production for export to Europe.[20]
Development banks, donors and governments are wasting money and resources trying to industrialise local dairy production in Africa when there is huge untapped potential in traditional systems, which are being held back by imports. Herders in Burkina Faso, for example, once supplied the entire nation with fresh milk. But imports of cheap fat-filled milk from Europe have all but destroyed their production over the past decade. “I’ve tried selling my milk, but most of the time it goes to waste and ends up being poured away,” says Hamidou Bandé, president of Burkina Faso’s National Herders’ Union. He keeps 300 cows but now only sells their meat because he cannot find a market for their milk. “It hurts. The milk we throw away could have been for the calves or our children.”[21]
Selling milk by the roadside in Borana, Kenya. 
Contrast this situation with that of Uganda, where a 60% tariff protects small dairy farmers on dairy imports.[22] Today smallholder dairies, composed of small-scale cattle farmers and herders and small-scale dairy vendors and processors, supply 80% of the milk consumed in Uganda. With regional tariffs keeping milk powder imports out of East Africa, small dairy farmers in Uganda have been able to effectively supply a surge in demand over the past two decades, and they have done so with indigenous cattle breeds and traditional farming practices.[23] The country’s few dairy companies have, on several occasions, tried to use their political connections to get laws passed to undermine this so-called “informal sector”, but farmers and small vendors have allied to stop them. Nationwide protests of farmers and vendors forced the government to back away from a ban on raw milk sales in both 2007 and 2014.[24]
Africa’s rich livestock diversity
Of the 222 million cattle that provide Africans with dairy and meat, most are owned by smallholder farmers and pastoralists.[25] This cattle population is highly diverse. There are at least 150 indigenous cattle breeds that have been identified on the African continent, and many more remain uncategorised.[26]
Cattle herding in different countries is carried out by specific tribes, such as the Banyankole in Uganda, Masaai in Kenya and Tanzania, and the Fulani throughout the Sahel and West Africa. They each have their own local breeds, like the famous Ankole long-horned cattle found in and around Uganda or the humped Zebu cattle that are kept by Fulani herders, of which there are many of different varieties adapted to the local geographies where they are grazed.[27]
Many of these groups are nomadic herders who move for long distances and periods of time, looking for feed and water for their animals. As such, their cattle breeds are adapted to the local conditions like the high temperatures, drought, the long distances between sources of grass and water and the various endemic diseases, as well as to the needs and cultures of those who depend on them.[28]

Ankole Long-horned cattle, indigenous to the Ankole region in Uganda. 

In recent years, farmers and even pastoralists have been pushed to adopt “high-yielding” breeds of cows, often crosses between the cows used on industrial dairy farms in Europe and local breeds. These new breeds are offered to women, particularly widows and single mothers in the rural areas of the countries where organisations like Send A Cow and Heifer International operate. By their nature, these foreign breeds are costly and come with onerous instructions for care, health and reproduction, for which the farmers have to take on debt to purchase costly veterinary products, shelters and artificial insemination.

Although cattle dominate Africa’s dairy sector, sheep, camels and goats are also important to dairy production, especially in certain areas of the continent. Exact figures are hard to come by, it is estimated that Africa is home to 27% of global sheep and 32% of global goat populations, and about 20% of global cattle.[29]
Many herders and farmers in Africa prefer small ruminants because they tend to involve lower costs and to be easier to manage than cattle. This is especially true for goats, known as the “poor person’s cow”, which have long been raised on the continent.[30] [31]
Dairy as a central part of the struggle for food sovereignty
There is no justification for the billions of dollars that exit Africa every year to pay for dairy imports. Dairy can and should be produced locally. As can be seen in Uganda, and neighbouring Kenya, there is one simple, effective measure that can be immediately taken: a stop on imports of powdered milk.
There are several options that African governments can take immediately to put the brakes on imports of powdered milk if there is political will. But many African governments are going in the opposite direction, in negotiations with Europe for the Economic Partnership Agreements or even in Africa’s own Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which undercut the possibilities their countries have to protect local dairy production. The governments of the big surplus milk-producing countries in Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand are also maintaining their relentless pressure on Africa to absorb more dairy from their corporations, even as these policies leave their own dairy farmers in crisis.

Ankole Long-horned cattle, indigenous to the Ankole region in Uganda. 

When dairy imports are curtailed, smallholder dairies in Africa will step into the void and meet the local demand, as they have wherever such measures are put in place. They can do so without adopting Europe’s industrial dairy farming practices and breeds of livestock. In fact, Africa’s local livestock systems and breeds of animals are highly efficient in securing milk and livelihoods for local communities and much more adapted to the context of climate change than the industrial models.

Donors and governments have to stop pushing industrial dairy, and development banks need to stop financing companies that compete directly with smallholder dairies. What is needed are regulations, policies and programmes that support smallholder dairies, making it easier for them to supply urban markets with fresh milk. Simple measures like the provision of small cooling tanks or efficient pasteurisation burners can make a huge difference. So too can municipal regulations that provide small vendors and traders accessible and safe spaces to bring their dairy products from the countryside to urban consumers. And foreign governments and donors should start by turning their attention back home, where the industrial, corporate-controlled dairy systems are not only killing Africa’s dairies but are causing numerous environmental and social problems at the source. Actions need to be taken to greatly reduce dairy production in these countries while ensuring livelihoods for their dairy farmers.
There are several inspiring initiatives already underway in Senegal, Burkina Faso and other African countries encouraging the consumption of local milk. These need to be ramped up and multiplied, while keeping dairy corporations like FrieslandCampina and supermarkets like Auchan, who are falsely advertising themselves as “local”, out of the picture. It is time that Africa’s diverse smallholder dairies, composed of millions of herders, farmers, vendors, and processors, utilising traditional breeds of cattle, goats and sheep, and making all kinds of yoghurts, cheeses and other healthy dairy products, are finally celebrated and supported.
Private equity in Africa’s dairy sector
Company
Countries
Private equity/corporations involved
Notes
Société Africaine des Produits Laitiers et Dérivés (SAPLED)
Côte d’Ivoire
Duet Private Equity
In 2015, the UK-based private equity group Duet acquired SAPLED from the Sifaoui Group. In 2019, workers at the company’s factory in Abidjan went on strike over two months of unpaid wages. Thirteen months later, in February 2021, they were back on strike, this time over four months of unpaid wages. The General Director blamed the company’s debts for the unpaid wages.
MB Plc
Ethiopia
Cerberus Capital Management
In 2016, Singapore-based SGI Frontier Capital, which was backed by the UK’s CDC Group, acquired a 45% stake in MB Plc, makers of the Family Milk brand in Ethiopia. In 2018, CSGI Frontier Capital was acquired by Cerberus Capital Management of the US.
Fan Milk
Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso
Danone, Abraaj Group
In 2013, the private equity fund Abraaj Group and Danone acquired Ghana-based Fan Milk, “the leading manufacturer and distributor of frozen dairy products and juices in West Africa”. In 2019, Danone acquired Abraaj’s stake, giving it 100% control of the company. In February 2021, Fan Milk announced an agreement with Nigeria’s Ogun State to build a large-scale dairy farm.
Countryside Dairy
Kenya
DobEquity, Acumen (FMO, Proparco, etc)
In 2016, the Dutch private equity firm DobEquity purchased a stake in newly established dairy processor Countryside Dairy. In 2021, it received further investment from the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund, a fund managed by New York-based private equity firm Acumen and backed by the Dutch development bank FMO and the French development bank Proparco, along with the Soros Economic Development Fund.
Brookside Dairy
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda
Danone, Abraaj Group
Kenya-based Brookside is the largest dairy processor in East Africa, buying milk daily from 200,000 farmers and operating in 12 countries. It was founded and remains majority owned by the family of the Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta. Brookside’s expansion has been aided by foreign investment, first from Abraaj Group of Dubai, which held a 10% stake via a fund partly owned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation before its collapse in 2018, and then the French dairy giant Danone, which now holds a 40% stake.
L&Z
Nigeria
Sahel Capital
In 2015, the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria acquired a 25% stake in the Nigerian dairy processor L&Z Integrated Farms. The Kano State dairy company was founded by Muhammadu Damakka. The Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria is managed by Nigerian private equity firm Sahel Capital and is backed by Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund and the development banks of Germany (DEG), the Netherlands (FMO) and the UK (CDC). In June 2021, Sahel disclosed that it was in the midst of an exit from the company.
Sosaco Nigeria
Nigeria
GBfoods Africa Holdco (jointly owned by GB Foods of Spain and Helios)
Sosaco was a subsidiary of the Honk Kong trading company Watanmal, whose main products are tomato paste imported from China and sold under the Gino brand and Jago processed milk. In 2017, GB Foods of Spain and the private equity fund Helios Investors III acquired Watanmal’s African operations, alongside a USD15.5 million investment from the World Bank’s IFC.
Ndoto Farms
Tanzania
AgDevCo
In 2013, Ndoto Farms, a dairy farm in Iringa with a herd of around 350 cattle, received a USD 90,000 investment from the AgDevCo, a UK private equity fund that mainly invests on behalf of the UK’s DFID.
Tanga Fresh
Tanzania
DobEquity
Tanga Fresh operates Tanzania’s largest dairy processing plant in the Tanga region, where the government and foreign donors have been promoting the development of dairy farming. The company received an initial investment from the Dutch private equity firm DOB Equity in 2007 and a further, undisclosed investment in 2020.
Pearl Dairies
Uganda
MIDCOM, TPG Capital
MIDCOM is a Dubai-based company run by Indian businessman Anand Kapoor, with backing from established Indian-Ugandan businessman Bhasker Kotecha, who is the owner of Midland. Pearl received an investment from the World Bank’s IFC of USD 8 million in 2013 towards the construction of the powdered milk plant in Mbarara District. TPG’s Rise Fund now owns 34% of the company, with Kapoor and Kotecha retaining 33% each. While TPG claimed it would help take Pearl international, targeting Algeria, Ethiopia, Malawi and South Sudan, in March 2021, Pearl Dairies shuttered its milk processing plant in Mbarara and announced it was shifting to honey production for export to Europe.
Lakeside Dairies
Uganda, Kenya
Dodla Dairies, TPG Capital
Lakeside is a subsidiary of the Indian dairy company Dodla Dairy, which entered Uganda through a purchase of Hillside Dairy and Agriculture Ltd in 2014-5. Dodla also has a milk trading company in Kenya called Dodla Dairy Kenya. Dodla is 25% owned by TPG’s Rise Fund, and 5% by the World Bank’s IFC.
Dendairy
Zimbabwe
Dendairy is 27% owned by the Norwegian private equity company Spear Capital, which lists Norfund and the Government of the Netherlands among its investors. It was granted lands by the government in the Chiredzi area, where about 12,500 people of the Chilonga Community live and are set to be evicted. The communities have been fighting to stop the eviction.
[1] Daily Trust, “Inside The Ultra-Modern Kwara Shonga Farms,” October 2010: https://dailytrust.com/inside-the-ultra-modern-kwara-shonga-farms; https://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/9126
[2] See Adekunle E. Ayandele, Dairy Scientist. Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, “Dairy farming in Nigeria: Past, present and future,” July 2020: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
[4] The farm and the company are owned by Air Vice Marshall Ishaya Shekari, the former military governor of Kano State.
[5] PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Transforming Nigeria’s Agricultural Value Chain,” 2017: https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/assets/pdf/transforming-nigeria-s-agric-value-chain.pdf
[6] “Furore over proposed CBN’s forex restriction for dairy importation,” Daily Trust, August 2019: https://dailytrust.com/amp/furore-over-proposed-cbns-forex-restriction-for-dairy-importation; Oladeinde Olawoyin, “CBN restricts forex on milk importation to FrieslandCampina, 5 others,” Premium Times, February 2020: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/376870-cbn-restricts-forex-on-milk-importation-to-frieslandcampina-5-others.html
[7] “Le pâturage libre interdit dans une dizaine d’États du sud du Nigeria,” RFI, September 2021: https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20210923-le-p%C3%A2turage-libre-interdit-dans-une-dizaine-d-%C3%A9tats-du-sud-du-nigeria; “Anti-Open Grazing Law Is Satanic, Empty; Herders Won’t Obey It – Miyetti Allah Dares Southern Governors,” Sahara Reporters, September 2021: http://saharareporters.com/2021/09/07/anti-open-grazing-law-satanic-empty-herders-won%E2%80%99t-obey-it-%E2%80%93-miyetti-allah-dares-southern
[8] “AfDB makes USD 9 million equity investment in Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria,” AfDB, August 2016: https://www.afdb.org/fr/news-and-events/afdb-makes-usd-9-million-equity-investment-in-fund-for-agricultural-finance-in-nigeria-15998
[9] The companies are Arla, Integrated Dairies Limited (owned by Air Vice Marshall Ishaya Shekari, the former military governor of Kano State), L&Z Integrated Farms Limited (owned by Sahel Capital’s private equity fund), Saj Foods Limited (owned by the brother of Kaduna State politician Aminu_Abdullahi_Shagali), Sebore Farms Limited (connected to the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako) and Majestic Farms (whose CEO is the journalist and businessman Al Humphrey Onyanabo).
[10] “Fulani herders seek to tap into Nigeria’s booming meat market,” AFP, June 2019: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/fulani-herders-seek-tap-nigerias-190029495.html
[11] “Hausse des résultats du laitier FrieslandCampina WAMCO au Nigeria,” Commodafrica, June 2020: http://www.commodafrica.com/30-06-2020-hausse-des-resultats-du-laitier-frieslandcampina-wamco-au-nigeria
[12] “Roger Adou, FrieslandCampina West Africa, ‘nous sommes en partenariat avec le gouvernement ivoirien pour former un écosystème de fermiers laitiers’,” Commodafrica, September 2021: https://www.commodafrica.com/23-09-2021-roger-adou-frieslandcampina-west-africa-nous-sommes-en-partenariat-avec-le-gouvernement
[13] “African Dairy Market Report 2021 – A €4.8 Billion Market,” Research and Markets, May 2021: https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/05/17/2230691/28124/en/African-Dairy-Market-Report-2021-A-4-8-Billion-Market.html
[15] GRAIN, “Barbarians at the barn: private equity sinks its teeth into agriculture,” 29 September 2020: https://grain.org/e/6533
[16] “Brookside buys Sameer’s Uganda dairy operations,” The Star, May 2015: https://www.the-star.co.ke/counties/2015-05-01-brookside-buys-sameers-uganda-dairy-operations/; Thomas Mwebaze and Anne Mette Kjaer, “Growth and Performance of the Ugandan Dairy Sector: Elites, Conflict, and Bargaining,” International Journal of Agriculture Innovations and Research, 2013: https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/71178513/mwebaze_and_kjaer_article.pdf
[17] Adela Suliman, ‘“Super’ crops and cows – Bill Gates, UK inject cash into farm science,” Reuters, January 2018: https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-aid-agriculture-idAFL8N1PL2T3; Mark Astley, “Bill Gates charity to fund East African dairy project expansion,” Dairy Reporter, January 2014: https://www.dairyreporter.com/Article/2014/01/17/Bill-Gates-charity-to-fund-East-African-dairy-project-expansion
[18] Netherlands East Africa Dairy Partnership: https://www.nlfoodpartnership.com/impact_coalitions/neadap/; “Nariindu 2 : Promouvoir le lait local au Sahel,” AFD: https://www.afd.fr/fr/carte-des-projets/nariindu-2-promouvoir-le-lait-local-au-sahel; Arla, “Arla scales up its commitment to develop a sustainable dairy sector in Nigeria,” September 2019: https://www.arla.com/company/news-and-press/2019/pressrelease/arla-scales-up-its-commitment-to-develop-a-sustainable-dairy-sector-in-nigeria-2918204/
[19] Cécile Broutin, Laurent Levard, Marie-Christine Goudiaby, 2018, “Quelles politiques commerciales pour la promotion de la filière « lait local »,” Gret, January 2018: https://www.gret.org/wp-content/uploads/rapport-synthese-etude-lait-afouest-VF2.pdf
[20] “Mbarara-based Pearl Dairy Farm lays off 1500 workers”, Independent, March 2021: https://www.independent.co.ug/mbarara-based-pearl-dairy-farm-lays-off-1500-workers/; “Dairy Farmers in Mbarara Turn to Beekeeping over Ban on Milk Imports,” News Day, March 2021: https://newsday.co.ug/2021/03/24/dairy-farmers-in-mbarara-turn-to-beekeeping-over-ban-on-milk-imports/
[21] Simon Marks and Emmett Livingstone, “The EU milk lookalike that is devastating West Africa’s dairy sector,” Politico, August 2020: https://www.politico.eu/interactive/the-eu-milk-lookalike-that-is-devastating-west-africas-dairy-sector/
[22] A 60% tariff on dairy products is imposed as an East African Community Single Customs Territory Common External Tariff.
[23] Indigenous cattle make up 90% of the national herd. Anne Mette Kjær, Fred Muhumuza and Tom Mwebaze, “Coalition-driven initiatives in the Ugandan dairy sector: Elites, conflict, and bargaining,” DIIS Working Paper, February 2012: files.ethz.ch/isn/140699/WP2012-02_Mette%20Kjaer-EPP-Dairy_web.pdf
[24] “Dealers strike over govt ban on sale of raw milk”, Monitor, April 2014: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/dealers-strike-over-govt-ban-on-sale-of-raw-milk-1570354
[25] Margaret Ngigi, “The Case of Smallholder Dairying in Eastern Africa,” February 2005: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6288909.pdf
[26] Asian-Australas J Anim Sci, “African Indigenous Cattle: Unique Genetic Resources in a Rapidly Changing World,” July 2015: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478499/
[27] Jean Boutrais, “The Fulani and Cattle Breeds: Crossbreeding and Heritage Strategies,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 77, no. 1 (2007): 18–36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40026696.
[28] Okeyo Mwai, Olivier Hanotte, Young-Jun Kwon, and Seoae Cho, “African Indigenous Cattle: Unique Genetic Resources in a Rapidly Changing World,” Asian-Australas J Anim Sci, July 2015: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478499/
[29] Ella Houzer and Ian Scoones, “Are Livestock Always Bad for the Planet? Rethinking the Protein Transition and Climate Change Debate,” PASTRES, 2021: https://pastres.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/climate-livestock-full-report-en-web.pdf
[31] Alexander Kahi and Chrilukovian Wasike, “Dairy goat production in sub-Saharan Africa: current status, constraints and prospects for research and development,” Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 2019: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31357267/

Original Source: grain.org

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FARM NEWS

Coffee Leaf Rust disease hits Mbale region farmers

Published

1 month ago

on

November 18, 2024

By

Mbale, Uganda | Coffee farmers from Bulambuli and Sironko districts are counting their losses after being attacked by coffee leaf rust disease. The disease, caused by the rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix, can reduce coffee production by between 30% to 50%.

The most affected sub-counties in Sironko include Buhugu, Masaba, Busulani, Bumasifwa, Bumalimba, and others. In Bulambuli, the hardest-hit areas are Lusha, Bulugeni Town Council, Buginyanya, and Kamu, among others.

In an exclusive interview with our reporter, Francis Nabugodi, the Sironko District Agricultural Officer, spoke about the devastating effects on farmers. “This disease has negatively impacted farmers in terms of production, and since it’s coffee season, they are going to make losses,” Nabugodi said.

He added that he had instructed extension workers to start massive sensitization campaigns in the six affected sub-counties about preventive measures, such as spraying, to curb the spread of the disease.

Nabugodi also urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry to supply the district with chemicals so they can distribute them to farmers, as many cannot afford to buy them.

Julius Sagaiti, the LCIII Chairperson of Lusha Sub-County in Bulambuli District, stated that his sub-county is the worst affected, with over 100 farmers having all their gardens hit by the disease. He called for urgent action from Bulambuli district leaders, warning that the situation would have severe consequences for farmers.

Timothy Wegoye and Suzan Nanduga, both affected coffee farmers from Bukisa, the worst-affected sub-county, shared their concerns. “The majority of farmers are ignorant about preventive measures and do not know the chemicals for spraying,” they said, urging extension workers to use the media to sensitize them.

Original Source: URN Via The Independent

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FARM NEWS

Drought ruining Kasese farmers’ livelihoods

Published

3 months ago

on

October 7, 2024

By

Along Bwera-Mpondwe road, in Kasese district, farmers till the land, with every hoe raising more dust than dirt, a testament of how hard the sun has scorched the ground. Located at the slopes of the Rwenzori Mountains, the low altitude leads to high temperatures as the district also sits on the Equator. In January this year, the average temperatures were 25.1 °C

Gideon Bwambale walks through drying maize garden.

Today, the temperature is 28.6 °C. The most affected areas are low-lying sub-counties like Kahokya, Nyakatonzi and Muhokya.

High deforestation levels have also exposed the mountain slopes and tampered with rain formation. Twelve sub-counties in the district have been hit with drought and prolonged dry spells. The dried maize and banana plants on Gideon Bwambale’s quarter-acre garden, in Kahokya sub-county, could mean there was a harvest a few weeks ago. However, he is quick to share that they did not harvest a single cob.

“Before the cobs would form, the sun dried them. Indeed, the sun has defeated us this season. The situation has been the same for the last eight seasons (four years). We are waiting on the mercy of God to send us rain because we do not have an alternative source of livelihood,” he laments.

To mitigate the effects of the sun, Bwambale and his neighbours are now planting trees in the hope that the rains will come. Bwambale’s neighbour opted to grow cotton and beans, which are believed to be more drought resilient than other food crops.

However, his cotton garden speaks a sad story because although planted a month ago the cotton is stunted, looking like it is a week old. Kasese District has two rainy seasons – March to May and September to December, and there is hope that with the rains on the way, agriculture will pick up.

On the descent to River Nyamugasani, the situation is no different for Sam Nabugere, a mango farmer who started planting when it began drizzling in late August.

“I planted 400 mango trees on four acres, but now, a month later, half of the trees have died. The weather forecast indicated that we would get rain by September 15, but that has not happened. I believe I will only salvage about 100 mango trees,” he says.

Nabugere has eight acres of land but is now irrigating six of them to try and help his mango trees develop.

“My farm is about 500 metres from the river so I use a pickup truck to ferry 500 litres of water for irrigation. Every day, I spend Shs100,000 on watering the farm. My long term plan is to build a ground tank on the next hill to store water for irrigation,” he says.

Cattle keepers not spared

Among the Basongora community, who are mainly cattle keepers, up to 1,000 heads of cattle have been known to perish in some dry seasons.

Kenneth Muyambi, the vice chairperson of Muhumuza Cattle Keepers Cooperative Society in Nyakatonzi sub-county, says the government has constructed three valley dams – Kakogye 1, Kagongo and Kyasenda – to try and address the crisis.

“The valley dams have minimised cattle deaths as they facilitate a constant water supply, even in the dry season. The main source of water is rainfall and the Kyanyampara water canal. When the valley dams are full, the water can last for up to six months before it is used up,” he says.

However, the valley tanks were last full in January. Now, they are now dry. Each dam feeds about 40,000 heads of cattle from the three different communities.

“Since there is no rain, the valley dams are empty. The Kyanyampara water canal feeds a number of sub-counties. During the dry season, like this one, farmers build channels to divert the water to their farms for irrigation. This means the cattle keepers downstream are deprived of water,” Muyambi adds.

The community calls on the government to instead tap into River Nyamugasani and create a canal through which water can flow into the valley tanks.

“We thank the government for building the valley dams. But the dams need water. Besides channelling water from River Nyamugasani, we request the government to dig solar powered boreholes to pump water into the dams,” Muyambi says.

Tapping into River Nyamugasani will increase the milk production in the area to satisfy the available market around the Mpondwe-Rubiriha border. The cooperative society has 4,000 heads of cattle, but its milk production stands at 5,000 litres in the dry season and 15,000 litres in the rainy season.

The pastoralists say this can improve if the cattle is well watered.

Government response

Julius Rukara, the principal agricultural officer for Kasese district, says the sub-counties experiencing drought are on the leeward side of the Rwenzori Mountains.

“We used to have two rain seasons but because of climate change, the seasons are unpredictable. For instance, the second rain season of the year starts in September and ends in November, but right now there is no rain. In other parts of the country, people plant crops throughout the year. Our farmers struggle to plant crops but end up depending on the mercy of God,” he says.

The district has four rivers and lakes but the farming population is yet to adapt to irrigation. Rukara says the biggest challenge the district is facing is mind-set change.

“Many still view farming as a punishment rather than an opportunity, making it difficult to encourage sustainable practices like agroforestry. People need to be sensitised to understand why we have a drought and then be encouraged to adopt climate smart technologies. People also do not have enough land to plant trees. The population in Kasese now stands at one million,” he explains.

Kasese town has two irrigation schemes – Mobuku and Mobuku II – which can cover 4,000 acres. With support from the government and development partners, the district is constructing smaller irrigation schemes in different sub-counties to cover 100 to 200 acres.

“Additionally, under the UgIFT Micro-scale Irrigation project, some farmers in the dry corridor are being helped to procure irrigation equipment. About 45 micro-irrigation systems, that can irrigate one or two acres, will be set up for small-scale farmers by the end of September,” Rukara adds.

The Micro-scale Irrigation program, hosted by the Ministry of Water and Environment, supports farmers to purchase and use individual irrigation equipment. Cattle farmers in Kahokya are being advised to dig shallow underground wells to store water for irrigating their pasture and watering their animals.

Eliphaz Muhindi, the LCV chairperson of Kasese district, is optimistic about ongoing efforts to improve the situation, especially in the water distressed areas like Kahokya sub-county.

“With support from the Ministry of Water and Environment and the local government of Kasese, we are constructing a solar-powered borehole that will have six tap stands. Secondly, we are also constructing the Nyamugasani Gravity Flow Scheme, which will have two lines, one with 1,500 tap stands and the other with 2,000 tap stands,” he says.

Construction of the Nyamugasani Gravity Flow Scheme will cost Shs61 billion. The district has also allocated funds to sensitise farmers who are diverting water from Kyanyampara canal to rationalise it so that cattle farmers in Nyakatonzi can also benefit.

Rukare says the district is also urging farmers in Kahokya, Muhokya and Lake Katwe sub-counties who are far from fresh water to dig shallow wells.

Kasese’s population continues to grow and yet the arable land between the Rwenzori Mountains and QENP is limited. If the effects of a changing climate are not intentionally dealt with, matters can only worsen.

Source: Daily Monitor

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FARM NEWS

Farmers count losses as dry spell scorches maize gardens

Published

5 months ago

on

July 22, 2024

By

Many farmers say they had borrowed money from banks and Saccos

During the first planting season, which usually kicks off in March, many farmers had hoped for a bumper harvest.

However, the unrelenting dry spell in some parts of the country has withered the crops, resulting in poor food harvests mainly maize and beans.

Although some districts received rains last week, many farmers, especially those growing maize and groundnuts, are counting losses after several acres of the crops got scorched by sunshine.

In the central region, the most affected are farmers in the districts of Nakasongola, Kiboga, Kayunga, Mubende, Kyankwanzi, Gomba, and parts of Rakai.

In Nakasongola District, the most affected sub-counties include; Nabiswera, Wabinyonyi, Kalungi, and Kalongo where farmers now stare at eminent hunger and lost cash invested in their respective gardens.

In Mulonzi Parish, Nabiswera Sub-county, Mr Simon Male has lost 35 acres of maize.

“I grow maize on a commercial scale, but my entire garden is scorched by the hot sun. I have lost the hope of harvesting any grains from this particular season. I did not anticipate the hot sun. Part of the money invested in my agriculture projects is from the loans,” he says.

Mr Ali Kisekka, a maize farmer and chairperson of Kabulasoke Sub-county in Gomba District, says all his 30-acre maize plantation withered two months after germination (between March and April).

“I spent money on renting the land, labour, purchase of seeds, and other inputs, amounting to Shs6m. Unfortunately, the rain did not come in sufficient amounts,” he says.

“Almost 50 percent of farmers in my sub-county are counting losses. We are now praying for the next season,” he adds.

Irreparable damage

Mr Emma Kintu, another farmer in Kabulasoke, says: “The damage has already been caused and we cannot save anything even if we get rain now, we are going to cut the maize and use it for mulching.”

Mr Samuel Muwata, a produce dealer in Kampala’s Kisenyi suburb, says the poor maize harvest may cause a spike in maize flour prices as was the case last year.

“The demand [for maize ] is increasingly high, and if there is no importation of maize from countries like Tanzania, there will be shortage which will cause prices to increase  possibly  in August or at the beginning of September when schools open for Third Term,” he says.

Currently, a kilo of maize grains costs between Shs800 and Shs1000, down from Shs500 a month ago while maize flour (corn) is between Shs1,800 and Shs2,000, down from Shs1,500.

Mr Augustine Wafula, a farmer in Busabana Village, Lunyo Sub-county, Busia District, says he only harvested four acres of maize from his five-acre garden. “I got a bank loan to plant five acres of maize, but ended up harvesting only four bags,” he says.

Mr Wafula’s loss has dealt a huge blow to his marketing prospects, especially in Kenya, which is a good destination for maize from Sofia and Marachi markets in Busia Municipality.

Because of the relatively good market for cereals in Kenya, several Ugandans were forced to rent land to plant maize. Unfortunately, the weather has left most of them counting losses.

Mr Anatoli Kizza, a farmer in Kiyindi Village, Buikwe District, says he used to supply schools with maize grains, but since the beginning of the year, he had not planted any because of the dry season.

“I tried to purchase the maize grains locally, but they could not reach the kilogrammes desired by the schools,” Mr Kizza says, adding that the dry spell is a result of abuse of the environment, including deforestation and encroachment on wetlands.

In Bugiri District, Mr Imani Mumbya, a groundnuts farmer in Isegero Village, Nabukalu Town Council, says he harvested nothing after planting the crop in his five-acre garden last season [August to December 2023] due to the unpredictable weather pattern, which was characterised by scorching sunshine.

Abrupt weather change

Mr Mumbya says following the first rains in January, he rushed to plant groundnuts. However, the rains abruptly stopped before the seeds barely sprouted.

He adds that because few seedlings sprouted, he cleared the garden in preparation for the second rains in April, which lasted until the end of May and helped the seedlings to sprout.

“But before the groundnuts could spend their entire 86-day period to mature, another drought came which prevented me from harvesting,” Mr Mumbya further explains, describing it as “the worst season during the 10 years he has been a farmer”. Mr Aloysious Kizito, a renowned farmer in Bbugo Village, Kyotera District, says maize harvests in the area have been too low as compared to last season which has reduced farmers’ expected returns on invested funds.

Although this area previously received heavy rains, Mr Kizito believes it was not evenly spread throughout the whole season, which led to poor harvests.

“We received heavy rains for two and half months yet most seasonal crops take three to four months to completely mature,” he says.

The most affected seasonal crops are maize, soya beans, peas, and Gnuts, which is likely to result in food shortages in the coming months.

Mr Abdul Birungi, a cereal farmer in Lubumba Village, Kyotera District, says although he reaped seven tonnes of maize last season from his seven-acre garden, this season he got only one tonne .

He attributes the poor harvests to what he describes as misleading messages issued by experts from the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA)   which warned farmers against planting crops in January and early February.

“I wanted to plant in early January, but changed my mind upon getting their [UNMA] advice, I feel puzzled because those that didn’t go with their advice in our area at least got good harvests,” he says.

But Ms Lillian Nkwenge, the UNMA principal public relations officer, says many farmers always fail to follow their forecasts as issued and end up blaming the Authority.

“The country is not expected to have major changes in the usual rainfall patterns this year. Most parts of Uganda normally have two rainfall seasons separated by dry season. So  , we hope to get the second wet season in early September,’’ she says.

Weighing options

In Teso Sub-region where farmers have for decades relied on rain-fed farming, they have started having a discourse on how to wholly revert to livestock or continue to depend on crop farming which continues to be affected by the erratic rainfall pattern.

The call to revert to livestock farming comes amid yet another failed crop harvest.

Mr John William Ejiet, the Kapelebyong District production officer, says when farms were at a critical stage of flowering, the drought again set in, leaving hundreds of farmers dejected.

 He says now is the time for farners to invest in micro-scale irrigation.

“Whereas there are small grants for small irrigation from the government for farmers, the rate of adoption is still low yet we are at a critical moment when we need to adapt to new farming techniques other than the rain-fed farming which is no longer reliable,”   Mr Ejiet says

 Ms Joyce Akwii, a resident of Omodoi in Ocokican Sub-county, Soroti District, says she invested more than Shs3m in crop farming but got less than Shs500,000.

 “I have resolved that come next year, my five acres of land that I have been using for crop farming will be turned into a goat and sheep farm,” Ms Akwii explains.

Last resort

Mr Mike Odongo, the chairperson of Ngora District, says for farmers to have a win -win situation, it is high time that they invested in both livestock and crop farming,.

“The goats and sheep can scavenge in the harsh environment,” Mr Odongo reasons.

 He says the once good environment that defined Teso has heavily been depleted and it is one of the reasons for the altered rainfall patterns.

“There is a need for soul searching among people of Teso, and deliberately focus on a greening campaign like we have started in Ngora with over 20,000 trees donated by Roofings Group and Centenary Bank. This is one of the mechanisms that may enable farmers to manage to retain water in the soil,” the district chairperson advises.

Mr Stephen Ochola, the Serere District chairperson, says the ultimate answers lie in livestock farming.

“If you can’t find Shs10m in growing cereal crops, you can find that in only three fattened animals and you will readily be able to have your children at university,” he says.

Contradiction

While agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy and employs more than 70 percent of the population, most farmers practice it without any training, something that has limited their opportunities of transitioning to large-scale merchandised commercial agriculture. In the new budget (2024/25 budget), the government reduced the allocation to the sector by 37 percent from   Shs1 trillion last year to only Shs644.39b. This budget allocation is already far below the required 10 percent allocation to the sector agreed under the 2003 Malabo declaration.

Original Source: Monitor

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