The African market mainly comprises South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, and Sudan. Africa boasts a large cattle population of more than 270 million. The region has huge land areas and a wide variety of fields. However, the adoption rate of advanced dairy farming solutions in this region is limited. A major factor impeding the market growth is the region's weak exchange rate and low-profit margins that make imported technologies very expensive for farmers.
By Priyanka Fulzele
Due to the growing demand for dairy products in the African population, the region faces several challenges. The region mainly depends on the import of milking automation technologies due to the limited presence of local players. A few of the key challenges in the region include the low average annual dairy productivity, which is between six and eight liters per cow per day. Milk is primarily produced by small dairy-sized farms. According to estimates, 80% of dairy milk producers are smallholder farmers, and large commercial farms produce a limited amount of milk. To guide the industry's development up to 2030, various African governments have prioritized the industry in their national strategies and plans, including the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (2019-2029) and the Kenya President's Big Four Agenda. Moreover, the stringent regulatory environment of the dairy farming industry, the lack of funds to carry out research and development activities related to dairy farming, and the lack of awareness about advanced dairy farming solutions among farmers are a few of the major factors dampening the market growth in Africa. However, there has been a tremendous change in the farming scenario in Africa in recent years, owing to the increased adoption of farm automation technologies, which are being used in several applications, such as animal monitoring, livestock farm surveying, and heat stress detection, to improve milk quality and yield. Moreover, huge investments are currently being made and are planned for the development of new commercial farming enterprises in Africa. The adoption of technology for livestock management and milking automation is still very low in North Africa. However, in Southern and Central Africa, these technologies are being adopted at a significant rate.
MILKING AUTOMATION MARKET ECOSYSTEM
Africa Milking robots Milking automation
