About ALFA Fodder and Daily Farm Jobs in Ethiopia

Alfa Farm offers 50 people permanent employment. With 46 Ethiopians and 4 Dutch employees we have a unique and complementary team. Alfa works with team which have their own team leader and responsibilities to jointly execute all necessary tasks for maintaining our herd. Alfa Farm offers training to employees to broaden their knowledge and skills.

History

In 2008 Mr. Bert Flier took the initiative to start a fodder and dairy farm. Mr. Flier is a business man from Barendrecht, a town in The Netherlands. During his involvement with Genesis Farm he became aware of the need of fodder for cows as well as the need of a new breed of high quality dairy cows in Ethiopia. Debre Zeit, which is located 45 km south of the capital Addis Ababa, seemed an ideal location to him. It is situated at an altitude of 1900 meters and therefore has an ideal climate for dairy cows. Another contributing factor that helped Mr. Flier decide to locate in Debre Zeit was the presence of Alema Koudijs Feed, a sister organization of De Heus, which produces concentrates for animals. In addition Holland Dairy, a milk processing plant, was able to guarantee the marketing of the milk.

The company was established in Ethiopia in June 2008 and was registered at the Ethiopian Investment Agency as Alfa Fodder and Dairy Farm PLC. The activities started in January 2009. Late February 2009, 2.7 ha of land was allocated to Alfa Farm.

After importing a number of containers, building activities began. Soon the workshop was build. Corn, used for corn silage, was grown on 30 ha in 2010. In the spring of 2010, bull calves were purchased from Southern Ethiopia to be raised on corn silage, with the idea to produce more tender meat as an alternative to the locally fattened oxen.

Cow barn and milking parlour were built in 2010 and early 2011, enabling us to import the first 25 pregnant heifers from The Netherlands in May. The breed of the animals we imported is the Holstein Frisian, because the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture allows this breed to be imported.

In 2010 the construction of the pig barn started. With a farrow-to-finish operation which produces around 600 feeder pigs annually, it has become an important part of Alfa Farm.

Facts and Figures

• 223 animals imported from The Netherlands
• 40 bulls for breeding
• 180 milking cows in production
• 2.7 ha compound
• 2 water wells
• Average milk yield per cow per day: 20-25 liters
• Number of milking times per day: 3
• 8000 m2 barns (another 3000 m2 to be constructed)
• 2x6 herring bone milking parlour (DeLaval)
• 50 employees

Vision

Alfa Fodder and Dairy Farm aims to contribute in a healthy way to the economy of Ethiopia by doing business in an underdeveloped sector, from the viewpoint that contributing to economic development is the best way to provide developmental aid.

Mission

Alfa Fodder and Dairy Farm aims to make a difference in the Ethiopian animal husbandry and the dairy sector.

Strategy

We carry out our mission by using opportunities provided by our environment:

• we use the opportunities which Ethiopia offers in our operational management. Herein we respect country, culture and surroundings;
• we aspire to be a role model for others in how we perform the business activities;
• we sell our products to the local market;
• we aspire to be self sustainable, promoting a positive economic climate in Ethiopia.

Our strategy is rooted in our Christian belief that we have a responsibility to help others as we are able. The Christian belief of the management team affects all aspects of the operational management. Christian values such as responsibility, honesty and transparency have high priority.