Five Eastern Cape community-based dairy farms persevered through a tough operating environment to produce 28 million litres of milk this year from five thousand milking cows, says Mr Simphiwe Somdyala, Amadlelo Agri CEO.

Mr. Somdyala was speaking yesterday (Saturday, 13 November 2021) at an awards ceremony aimed at rewarding and recognising achievements of the five community dairy farms operated by Amadlelo Agri in partnership with surrounding communities.

Amadlelo Agri, a 72% broad-based black-owned company, operates dairies in Alice, Middledrift, Shiloh, Keiskammahoek, and Ncora.

“The communities and the farm workers worked diligently throughout the year. It is important to pause and recognise the hard work and encourage them to continually seek even  better results,” explains Mr. Somdyala.

He says the aim of Amadlelo Agri, which operates dairy farms and is a strategic investor in a macadamia farm, a piggery, and food manufacturing company Dairy Food Group, is to bring together the community, the government and investors to take advantage of available opportunities.

“We have capacity to scale up the current farms. Also, the scope for expanding to other communities is enormous because the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal are endowed with ample arable land,” he adds. 

The company has access to 2 205 hectares of irrigated land, where it keeps 10, 024 cows including heifers and calves. On the irrigated land, Amadlelo plants maize, lucerne, chicory and other animal feed.

Amadlelo Agri’s Chairperson, Mr Bulelani Ngcuka, praised the farmers and communities for not allowing the challenging operating climate to make them despondent. Farming on communal land has unique challenges. Added to this there is drought, Covid-19 pandemic and other socio-economic challenges like crime.

“But against all these odds, you managed to achieve the set targets. That’s worth celebrating as this feeds families, creates jobs and facilitates economic development,” says Mr. Ngcuka.

Since the company started operations in 2006, it has paid R844 million into communities in the form of wages, distributions, land rentals, and community partnerships.

This year, Fort Hare Diary Trust was the top performer, walking away with 10 of the 16 awards including  Best Overall Farm, Best Administration and Highest Profit Per Hectare.

Fort Hare’s farm manager, Ms. Jeanette Rikhotso, won the newly-introduced CEO’s Award for her efforts in improving For Hare’s overall performance.

Explaining how the farm managed to perform so well, the beaming Ms Rikhotso, who joined Amadlelo Agri as an intern in 2008, puts it down to a collaborative approach to work by her team of 21 workers who produce four million litres of milk annually.

“Each one of us knows exactly what is required of us. We take pride in our work and we ensure that we meet our daily key performance indicators,” she adds.

Finance from Old Mutual Masisizane Fund also enabled the farm to invest in much-needed infrastructure.

Other award winners are:

• Middledrift Dairy (Pty) Ltd for Lowest Percentage Feed Bought
• Shiloh Dairy Trust for Best Fertility and Conception Figures
• Ncora Dairy Trust for Best Milk Quality
• Seven Stars Trust for Lowest Cost Producer
• Mrs Lumka Maso and Mr Alfred Mcasi for Stewardship & Community Champion
• Mr Tukela Jantijies for Project Chairperson of the Year

Amadlelo Agri operates mainly in rural areas on land owned by the communities. It engages in sharemilk partnership agreements with the communities, whereby it provides management skills, movable assets, and livestock required to operate the dairy farms.

In turn, the communities bring to the table land and physical infrastructure. Amadlelo’s sharemilk model is based on New Zealand’s sharemilk model, whereby the company also facilitates skills transfer to communities and creates market access for the milk produced by the dairies.

Source: Amadlelo Agri