Page 56 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Innovate Afrika

The cream on top
family members. went bust, Danone took over the In Africa, dairy is often political,
whole company in 2019, using it as a with direct interests extending to
Sahel says it is taking a “private sec- base to expand its reach across West the highest levels of government.
tor-led and market-based approach Africa, including in Nigeria, where it No more so in Kenya, where the
to solve the problems inherent in has a “backward integration” project
the dairy sector”, but it completely with Ogun State. family of the President, Uhu-
sidesteps the biggest problem: im- ru Kenyatta, owns Brookside
ports of cheap, subsidised powdered All of the local dairy projects Dairy, the largest dairy processor
milk. The project’s attempt to shift that these foreign corporations in East Africa. Brookside has
herders to expensive, European-style are pursuing should be properly attracted several foreign part-
dairy farming is thus doomed to understood as fronts, designed to ners, including Abraaj Group
fail, just as the Zimbabwean farmers distract from the massive amounts of Dubai, which held a 10%
did at Shonga and all past efforts to of money they siphon out of Africa stake via a fund partly owned
“modernise” Nigeria’s dairy sector from their sales of cheap, excess by the Bill and Melinda Gates
have. This is, after all, the main rea- powdered milk. The system is built Foundation before its collapse in
son why herders from Nigeria and on heavily subsidised overproduc- 2018, and the French dairy giant
the surrounding countries, who have tion in Europe, North America and
had no problem meeting Nigeria’s Australia/New Zealand. That excess Danone, which currently holds a
galloping consumption of beef over gets dumped into Africa, mainly in 40% stake.
the past decades, have been shut out the form of fat-filled milk pow-
of the dairy market. der, where it is processed and sold Brookside is expanding beyond
to urban consumers at prices that its borders through the acqui-
A milk mafia undercut the supply of wholesome sition of other politically-con-
local milk. In 2019 Africa imported nected dairy companies in
Similar scenarios are mushroom- 2.1 million tonnes of dairy products neighbouring countries. In 2016,
ing across Africa. It is no wonder. worth some USD5.3 billion, up Brookside took over Inyange,
The continent’s fast-growing urban from 1.46 million tonnes in 2009, Rwanda’s top food processing
populations represent a pot of gold worth USD3.6 billion). company connected to President
for dairy corporations. Friesland- Paul Kagame’s party. And, the
Campina made a whopping USD Donors insist that Africa’s reli-
48 million in profit from its Nigeria ance on imports can be resolved year before it bought the former
operations in 2019. Now it wants by “modernising” their farms and Ugandan Dairy Corporation,
to double its revenues in Africa by supply chains. The Gates Founda- which had been privatised
expanding in other countries such as tion supports multiple initiatives through a scandalous corrupt
Côte d’Ivoire, where the company’s in Africa to boost per farm milk bidding process and acquired by
recently acquired dairy plant relies production by replacing local breeds a family close to President Yow-
entirely on imports. When asked with high-yielding breeds and intro- eri Museveni, who himself is ru-
about this lack of local sourcing, ducing commercial animal feeds and moured to be one of Brookside’s
FrieslandCampina’s West Africa di- pharmaceuticals, such as the East leading suppliers of milk through
rector, Roger Adou, said the compa- Africa Dairy Development Project his large-scale ranches.
ny was in the process of building an in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
“ecosystem” of local dairy farmers So too do the governments of the
trained in Dutch farming methods. Netherlands, France and Denmark--
“You cannot blame multinational home base to the largest companies
corporations for the poor organisa- exporting dairy to Africa.
tion of local supply chains,” he said. Meanwhile, the Economic Com-
munity of West African States has
Another big player in Africa is the launched a five-year “dairy offen-
French dairy giant Danone, which sive” based on the same model, as
joined forces with the Dubai-based its member states move ahead with
private equity company Abraaj trade deals with Europe that will
Group to take over the Ghana dairy reduce tariffs on milk powder from
company Fan Milk. After Abraaj a feeble 5% to zero! Ankole Long-horned cattle, indigenous to
the Ankole region in Uganda. Photo: Nobert
Petro Kalule
56 | we tell the true afrikan story