A Namibian delegation visiting Kenya has returned from an insightful tour of Kenya’s leading dairy cooperative and a prominent Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO), expressing optimism that applying similar models in Namibia could help address key socio-economic challenges.
The delegation believes that adopting Kenya’s successful farming and cooperative frameworks could significantly contribute to reducing unemployment, enhancing food production, and empowering communal farmers through collective business strategies
Comprising lawmakers, agricultural stakeholders and business representatives, the delegation visited Kenya this week to study how small-scale farmers there have transformed dairy farming into a thriving economic sector through cooperation, affordable financing, value addition and farmer-owned enterprises.
During engagements with Kenyan cooperative leaders, financial experts and dairy farmers, the Namibians witnessed how ordinary farmers with only a few cows have been brought into profitable value chains that create jobs, generate income and reduce poverty in rural communities.
The visit comes as Namibia continues to search for practical solutions to unemployment, rural underdevelopment and food insecurity, particularly among communal farmers, who often struggle to access financing, markets and processing facilities.
At present, the Namibian dairy industry faces a severe crisis characterised by a collapse in local milk production, a mass exodus of farmers, and immense pressure from cheaper South African imports.
Between 2017 and 2022, local raw milk production plummeted by 35%, dropping from 24 million litres to just 15.6 million litres, while the number of local dairy farmers declined from 27 to just four.
But there’s hope: members of the delegation said the Kenyan experience demonstrated that Namibia already possesses the resources needed to build a successful dairy and cooperative economy but lacks coordination, collective action, and proper support systems.
One delegate, Abel Akayombokwa, said the visit exposed how much potential is being lost in Namibia because farmers continue operating individually rather than through organised cooperatives.
“What we are learning here is that even if I only have five litres of milk and another farmer also has five litres, together we can build something meaningful. The milk is there, the cattle are there, but what is missing is the system that brings people together,” he observed.
No access
The delegation admitted that the Namibian dairy sector has increasingly become concentrated in the hands of a few dominant players, leaving small farmers excluded from meaningful participation.
“Dairy is now only in the hands of one group of people. But when you come here to Kenya, you see ordinary farmers benefiting because they are working together through cooperatives,” said Philip Namundjembo, the chief executive officer at NIDA.
Kenyan cooperative leaders explained that their SACCO model allows even the smallest farmer to access financing, transport services, processing plants and markets through collective membership structures.
They said the cooperative movement has also enabled rural communities to create entire economic chains around dairy farming.
“The one transporting milk makes money. The one producing fodder makes money. The one making cheese makes money. That is how employment is created,” a Kenyan expert, Charles Kioko, who is the chief executive officer of SACCO, told the delegation.
The Namibians were particularly impressed by how Kenyan farmers can use their livestock and savings as collateral for loans through cooperative systems.
“Our farmers can use their cows as security. They can borrow money to expand farming operations or buy equipment, and they repay gradually through the cooperative structure,” Kioko explained.
Delegates said such systems could be a major breakthrough for
Namibia’s communal farmers, many of whom remain excluded from traditional banking.
The delegation also acknowledged that attitudes towards cooperatives in Namibia need to change if the country wants to replicate Kenya’s success.
The Kenyan hosts agreed, saying trust and cooperation have been central to the growth of their farmer-owned enterprises.
They explained that over the years, cooperatives in Kenya evolved into strong financial and business institutions capable of supporting thousands of members.
The SACCO representatives said that international partners, such as USAID and other development organisations, also helped strengthen the dairy sector through training programmes, grants and farmer support initiatives.
Climate
The Namibians also showed interest in Kenya’s climate-smart agriculture initiatives and renewable energy projects aimed at lowering production costs for farmers.
Said Mwangi Ali, the honorary consul of Namibia to Kenya, who also organised the meeting, argued that Namibia already possesses enough water and fertile land to support fodder production and dairy farming on a larger scale.
“There are thousands of hectares of arable land and enough water to sustain production, but we are not fully utilising it,” he said.
Kenyan officials explained that SACCOs operate under strict regulations to protect members and ensure transparency.
-ljason@nepc.com.na