The African Business Journal: Mafuteni Ranch

Mafuteni Ranch
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admin on 17 July, 2010 03:10:00
 
The Kingdom of Swaziland—the small landlocked country located in southern
Africa and bordered by Mozambique and the Republic of South Africa—has an
economy that is largely dependent on agriculture. A 2008 government census
reveals that 70 per cent of the Swaziland population depend on the agriculture
industry for employment, and that it accounts for 12 per cent of the
country’s GDP.
TABJ had the good fortunate to speak with an integral partner in the Swaziland
agricultural industry, Mr. Rowan Howe of Mafuteni Ranch. In Swazi language,
Mafuteni means “Place of Fattening” and is located in ideal cattle
ranching area thanks to the presence of sweet felt and clement weather.
In 1965, when Howe came to Swaziland as a 24 year-old man, Mafuteni Ranch was
primarily a beef-producing ranch, with 12 employees and a single manager. During
his tenure, Howe has helped Mafuteni Ranch grow to a company with 81 employees,
three managers and a diversified operation that capitalises on the
country’s climate (conducive to year-round facilities) and farmer-friendly
policies which have navigated Mafuteni Ranch through decades of uninterrupted
business.
Operations
Mafuteni Ranch specialises in beef operation with livestock with a feedlot of
approximately 600 head, and had a very healthy annual income of R40 million in
2009. Mafuteni Ranch raises the cattle then has them slaughtered through the
company Swaziland Meat Industry, of which Howe is chair. Currently, Mafuteni
Ranch ships 100 per cent of its beef produce to the Norwegian market.
Mafuteni Ranch has a very thorough and precise operation with which to produce
and ship out their food. The meat is deboned, vacuum packed and shipped to
clients. Although working now exclusively with Norwegian companies,  Howe says
the company has had previous contracts with the U.K., Germany and Switzerland.
“But now all our produce is going to Norway of which we have a quota of
500 tonnes per annum, which we will be very close to filling,” says Howe.
The beef produced by Mafuteni Ranch is a breed of cattle that is the indigenous
to Swazi land and is a fine textured meat. “Because we store things as
chilled, not frozen, the time taken from slaughter to market is in excess of six
weeks, which allows the meat to mature and becomes extremely tender in that
period.”
A pressing issue for the Swaziland beef market is a serious shortage of cattle.
In addition, local tribes see the cattle’s value as a currency or
demonstration of their wealth and, as such, the local tribes do not make a
business of breeding or selling cattle. Although Mafuteni Ranch does buy most of
their cattle from Swazi people, “cattle in Swaziland are inclined to be
held for guarantees for a man’s banking account, so to speak,” says
Rowe.  It does pose a unique and interesting dichotomy within the market place,
but one that Rowe’s years of local experience is very comfortable with
navigating.
Diversification
Beef is a luxury commodity because it is so expensive to produce. To assuage the
burden of the cost of the beef production, Mafuteni Ranch diversified into the
less costly and time consuming chicken production business two years ago. The
company produced seven breeding cycles a year cycles a year of 100,000 chickens
per cycle, which are then sold to another subsidiary company who slaughter
13,000 chickens a day, marketed within Swaziland. The company has been
approached by the export market, notably by Mozambique companies, which Mafuteni
Ranch will consider once the production has matured somewhat. For the time
being, there is a continuous supply for the local factory.
“We would like to see more export with the chickens so that we can grow
the business externally. We believe that with Swazi being a small state, it is
better to develop our business in external markets so we would like to look to
the exporting side of our development,” says Howe.
Further enterprises
“We produce in the winter months under irrigation a four-month crop of
potatoes for the crisp market which we export to SA,” says Howe of the
company’s seemingly endless venues of production. The balance is sold
locally to supermarkets.
To facilitate these multiple venues, Mafuteni Ranch also maintains a transport
company which is run from the farm. The management team decided it would be best
to endeavour into the transport business because they were transporting a lot of
cattle across Swaziland to Swaziland meat industries. “We have expanded
that and do freight transport of sugar from another company to SA,” says
Howe. “We do general transport, all livestock, pigs, chickens basically
from site to shop.”
The strategic diversification was precipitated by economic factors. When
originally producing only cattle, it took about four years for each of the big
heavy oxen to be ready for slaughter. The farm then diversified to feed lots and
the maturing time was reduced to one year.
Howe puts it simply and to the point. “Because we are a farming operation,
we did potatoes in the winter. Because of the shortage of getting cattle to pass
through the feedlot, we are sustaining out of our breeding lot. We diversified
to chicken to have a product which is easily attainable, available, and as far
as meat is concerned is the main protein supplier to the world.”
Government assistance
Howe has spent his life working with and for Swaziland business, and has a
unique and valuable perspective on the government’s participation in its
economy, on which he speaks positively. “Swaziland has a secure political
system which I believe is unheard of in the rest of Africa. Due to our security,
I have been able to progress for 45 years with no upheaval or war.”
Mafuteni Ranch are an exemplary company who have managed to earn great success
through hard work, dedication and a respect and love of their homeland.  Says
Howe, “There is a tremendous advantage to live in a country where land
titles are secure. I count myself as one of the luckiest people in the county,
and have been extremely happy here.”