MilkAfric sponsors students for dairy production course

Some Batswana students jetted outside the country this week for an intensive training on dairy production, courtesy of MilkAfric.

This Tuesday, the company, which is developing a dairy project in Lobatse with the local town council, hosted a send-off for fifteen Batswana students going to the University of Florida, USA, to begin the MilkAfric Dairymen Training Programme.

The students are part of the human capital investment in Botswana by MilkAfric. Training costs, MilkAfric pays for subsistence, and travel, and the students have each signed contractual agreements for future employment with MilkAfric.

“We are excited by the sustainable investment that we are making through the apprenticeship of the fifteen, young Batswana Dairymen trainees. Upon their return, these trainees will be well-equipped and competent in all aspects of dairy management,” said the excited MilkAfric CEO, Phil Matibe.

The company is also sponsoring five Ministry of Agriculture dairy officers, out of the fifteen students, to train in the same programme in the United States. Upon their successful completion, they will return to the Ministry of Agriculture to engage in dairy extension work across Botswana helping small-holder farmers in developing viable dairy enterprises.

The Dairymen students will be trained in all aspects of dairy management within the milking facilities at Alliance Dairies. On any given day, they will have an opportunity to interact with twelve thousand milking cows and all the supporting staff at Alliance Dairies, including world-class animal science professors from the University of Florida.