Dairy to produce 8,000 litres of milk per day

CHAKALISA DUBE
Staff Writer | Friday February 24, 2012 00:00

SMMA's P7 million dairy plant, which started operations in February last year, was built by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) after dairy farmers in the Central District complained that there was no market for their produce. The association currently buys the 500 litres of milk that make up its daily production from six farmers in Serowe, Mahalapye and Palapye for processing before selling them.  Lefhoko says SMMA is currently in talks with dozens of dairy farmers in the Central District and beyond to supply it with milk towards the 8,000-litre target.

'We hope a deal will be concluded in the next few months,' he says. 'We are also talking to farmers who currently supply us with milk to expand in order to to meet our projected target.'  To that end, some of the association's current suppliers have approached commercial banks to assist them expand their farms.

SMMA currently sells its milk mainly to the government and people within the Central District. 'We want to expand because our desire is to sell milk to other regions across the country,' Lefhoko says.  The dairy currently employs two people, a book keeper and milk attendant, while the third person who works there is a dairy officer on secondment from MoA for technical advice.  Lefhoko says the aim is to expand and create more jobs for people in the Central District.