07 Sep 2015

In a thick forest on the outskirts of Molapowabojang rests a dairy project; Dairy House Farm. The owner, Mr Batshwari Dintwa, said he started the business in 2002 to address the demand for milk and milk products.

He said his business was doing well, despite a number of challenges. He noted that building and maintaining a structure for the processing, storage and distribution of milk was expensive.

He added that buying and maintaining refrigerated trucks and adhering to health and safety standards also came at a cost. He said dairy farmers required financial support to maintain high safety and health standards.

Mr Dintwa stated that a dairy cow needed 50-75 litres of water a day depending on the size of the animal. He explained that on average, a dairy cow needed 15-30 kg of total mixed ration a day depending on the size of the animal.

He said a normal dairy cow produces 8-30 litres of milk daily. The Bobonong native said he wanted to enhance his packaging in the near future to position his enterprise to sell to supermarkets.

He said his product line included fresh milk, sour milk, yoghurt and pasteurised milk. He said residents were spared the time and cost of travelling long distances to buy such products in towns.

Mr Dintwa implored government to consider buying dairy and dairy products from producers for consumption in schools to help increase their market. He said although he sold to Jwaneng Mine, the long distance between the farm and the mine made it costlier than selling to nearby schools.

He said supplying clients in a radius of 50 kilometres and less would be cheaper for milk producers and distributors. He said that would eventually encourage people to venture into the industry.

He however said that he is capable of supplying all schools in the southern district with pasteurized milk. He added that his company is working on approaching banks to grow the business.

He said he has already approached the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) to come and assess the project to advise how best he can expand the business and heighten service delivery. He noted that he appreciates LEA’s business mentorship.

He has invested in Jersey and Friesian dairy breeds. He said that he needs both as the former produces high cream and protein milk whereas the latter yields large quantities of milk. He said the cream is required to process milk into byproducts. ENDS