Quality milk. Lots of water. Rich soil and huge chunks of land.
This is what attracted diary corporate giant Nestlé to partner up with the Makhoba community of Swartberg village in KwaZulu-Natal.
In 2008 Nestlé began getting its milk from the Springfontein Dairy Farm on land that belongs to the Makhoba community. Makhoba Farms is a 10,000 hectare property at the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, between Kokstad and Underberg in KZN. The farm is owned by the Mzabane Makhoba Trust, chaired by chief Ambrose Makhoba and 16 trustees representing 1,400 beneficiary families who were removed from their land in 1946.
The land was transferred back to the community in 2002 after a successful land claim facilitated by the government. For the past 14 years, the dairy farm has been Nestlé’s largest black-owned supplier of milk in the country.
One of the workers on the Springfontein Dairy Farm in Swartberg, KwaZulu-Natal at Makhoba Farms project at Swartberg, Kwazulu-Natal.
ANTONIO MUCHAVE
Nestlé invited Sowetan to a two-day media tour of Makhoba Farms last week to experience the growth of the partnership between Nestlé and the Makhoba community.
Comprising 508 cows, the farm produces 11,000 litres of milk a day – an estimated four million litres annually.The farm consists of a milking parlour, calves section, solar plant and a man-made dam. It has 35 employees consisting of drivers, herdsmen, milkers and farmers.
Hoven Meyer, head of agricultural services at Nestlé, said the company heeded the call from the Makhoba community to assist it with commercial farming.
“About 20 to 30 years ago, 80% of the country’s milk was being produced in the inland around Gauteng because the bulk of consumers were situated in that inland area. Then the milk over the years moved to the coastal areas, not only KZN but also the Eastern Cape and Western Cape regions. Currently, 80% of milk is produced in our three coastal regions and that is the basis of sustainability of milk production in this area [Makhoba],” said Meyer.
“There was a desire and demand for assistance from the people of Makhoba. We as Nestlé started collecting from Makhoba way back since 2008. And so the teamwork and contribution grew over the years. For us as Nestlé it is not about collecting a raw material which is milk. We also want to be involved in the livelihoods and with the people who live in this area. Our responsibility is beyond collecting milk. We are playing our part in the success of the Makhoba story,” said Meyer.
He said Makhoba Farms’ richness in natural resources made the company partner up with the community. “When you start producing an agricultural commodity, there must be potential. We have seen right from the start that here there is potential in this area, which is a dairy producing area.
“There is a lot of water and the soil is good. There is a lot of land available for expansion. This is a good project to support because the natural potential is here. When we started off it was challenging times. We did not start off with this beautiful new dairy. There was an old dairy. Nestlé started to supply milk tanks and financial support which led to growth over the years. This lovely set-up we see today is a result of team effort. We now have a set-up that compares with any commercial set-up in the country,” said Meyer.
General manager of the dairy farm Brian Todd said the farm is the ideal platform to equip young people with agricultural skills.
“We want to give youngsters from rural areas experience in commercial farming. This is what gets me up every morning. The youngsters we are training have the potential of one day being owners of dairy farms. We want to equip them with tools to work on any farm,” said Todd.
Bayanda Veco, 30, got an opportunity to work on the dairy farm when he was deployed there as an intern by the provincial agriculture department in 2020. Veco was working as a trainee manager until he became permanent in March 2021.
He now works as a dairy and herd manager on the farm. His duties entail managing the milking of cows, vaccination and treatment of animals and monitoring milk hygiene.
“I am motivated and fired up. It feels like doors are opening for me to finally explore and take charge of my passion, which is farming,” said Veco.
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