Page 54 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Innovate Afrika
Innovate Afrika

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. Photo: GRAIN

CORPORATIONS and white “modern” farmers were

not the solution to Nigeria’s dairy
make a killing milking Africa import woes. The problem, as every
cattle herder in Nigeria knows, is the
competition with the cheap import-
by GRAIN | 18 Nov 2021 ed powdered milk that companies
https://grain.org/en/article/6766-corporations-make-a-killing-milking-africa like FrieslandCampina dump into
the country. The Zimbabwean farm-
ers and their modern methods were
n 2009, the Nigerian gov- David Higgins, a South African equally powerless against it.
ernment gave some white hired to manage the operation’s milk
farmers from Zimbabwe plant, which became a supplier of Nigeria imports about 98% of the
Iloans and 1,000 hectares (ha) fresh milk to FrieslandCampina, the dairy products consumed in the
of land each to set up dairy farms Dutch dairy corporation that has country and spends an average of
in Shonga, an important centre of dominated the Nigerian market for USD 1.3 billion a year on these
agriculture about 400 km from the decades. imports. It is also the world’s biggest
capitol Lagos. Hopes were that their importer of fat-filled milk powder
“ultra-modern” farms, stocked with However, less than ten years later, from Europe-- a cheap milk looka-
Jersey cows brought in from South the project had all but collapsed. like that is made with a mix of milk
Africa, would make a dent in the Most of the Zimbabwean farmers powders and palm oil that has nearly
country’s massive dairy import bill. had left, and those remaining were quadrupled in exports from Europe
“drawing their exit plan”, as one over the past decade.[3] Friesland-
“I saw an opportunity here ... and I Nigerian researcher put it. Campina, which brings in huge
can tell you now there is no doubt quantities of subsidised powdered
I am here for the long term,” said It turns out imported Jersey cows milk from its dairy plants in Europe,

54 | we tell the true afrikan story