| Mega dairy farm to house 1520 cows in luxury |
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| Written by Chamwe Kaira | |
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The Ohlthaver and List Group’s planned super dairy farm at the Hardap Irrigation Scheme will accommodate 1520 cows, according to new details released by the government.
The cows will be accommodated on 698.73 hectares of land and will be kept under-roof since reduced temperatures increase milk production by up to 10%. Cabinet last week granted the Ohlthaver and List Group 300 hectares of land bringing the total needed for the project to 698.73 hectares under a 99-year lease, Cabinet announced in a statement. The group will pay N$130 000 per annum to lease the land.
“World trends and cross-border trade within the Southern African
Customs Union are forcing producers to invest in more efficient and
high-yielding production methods to ensure competitiveness,” Cabinet
said in a statement supporting the establishment of the farm.
The Ohlthaver and List Group, through its subsidiary Namibia Dairies, intends to restructure the milk-value chain to secure the future supply of locally produced milk at competitive prices. Namibia Dairies already owns a plot on the Hardap scheme that produces fodder under irrigation, which is used as feed for dairy cows. The company has a modern manufacturing plant in Windhoek and six depots in the southern, northern, north-central and western regions of the country. The company employs 460 people in its operations. Namibia Dairies has a market share of about 46% and produces milk, cream, better, cheese cultured milk, yoghurt, dairy mixes and juices. The Ohlthaver and List Group’s spokesman Patrick Hashingola told the Economist in a separate interview that the farm would be officially launched at the end of August. “Construction has already started,” he said. Around N$54.8 million will be spent on developing the farm. He said the cows will be sourced locally and that the milk will be sold to Namibia Dairies’ milk-processing plant in Windhoek. The farm is part of his company’s growth and sustainable strategy under which almost N$1 billion will be invested in subsidiaries within the next four years, Hashingola said. The implementation of the super dairy farm will ensure long-term profitability and sustainability of the dairy industry, he added. |
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