The future of the dairy industry in Kazakhstan through the eyes of the creator of the dairy plant

There is an opinion that Kazakhstan missed the opportunity to create its own dairy industry. Is it so?

- Nothing is missing! Better late than never. And I don’t like that the Ministry of Agriculture and industry media focus only on cow’s milk. I never understood this and took every opportunity on various platforms to draw attention to this issue. Why are there no conversations and plans to develop the production of mare and camel milk? We run for cow's milk, this is very bad. Well, any dairyman will say that camel and mare’s milk is much healthier than cow’s milk. In the conditions of Kazakhstan, I believe we should develop at least three types of milk and on a massive scale.

Do you think that the production of other types of milk will lead to the fact that cow's milk will simply disappear?

- No, competition will simply appear, and in-demand types of products will develop. Which will ultimately benefit the health of the nation. And those who talk about cow's milk in Kazakhstan simply do not know the geography of our country. While, if you look closely at the map of Kazakhstan, you can see that we have a lot of desert and semi-desert lands where camel and mare milk can be produced. It is necessary to create enterprises on an industrial basis that will produce 3-5 tons of camel or mare’s milk every day, advertise on a national scale, so that food institutes get involved and talk about the benefits and composition of these types of milk. In Europe there are already farms producing mare's milk, and even there they pay attention to this type of product. The first mission of all dairymen is the health of the nation, so we should not talk about competition, but about the health of the nation.

How many dairy plants should there be in Kazakhstan?

- In every city with a population of 100 thousand people, in my opinion, there should be one small enterprise with a volume of 3-5 tons per day.

Are you in favor of us developing private small enterprises?

- Small and medium-sized farms from 5 to 100 cows. You need to pay attention to this. Nobody deals with them except us: dairymen, factories. There are thousands of yards where we collect milk, but we don’t have enough strength. Our Natige plant provides them with at least milking hygiene. We bring milking machines from abroad to eliminate manual labor, we teach them what udder hygiene is: wipe, wipe, so that each cow has her own rag, her own! Because it's hygiene, it's like the whole family using the same toothbrush. What the department of agriculture of districts and regions is doing is absolutely not clear to me personally. Do they carry papers and sit in offices? None of them should sit in the office; every morning, they should start their workday in someone's barn. Then, by fulfilling our duties every day, we will achieve good results over the years.

It’s not entirely clear why you think it’s not worth developing huge factories?

- I proceed from the conditions of most of Kazakhstan. We bring Dutch technologies, Dutch cows and Dutch carousels, but we cannot bring the Dutch climate and Dutch grass, 300 hectares, where he mows the grass three times a year, this is enough to feed these 600 cows. We don’t have such opportunities even in the good northern regions. We are forced to mow thousands of hectares to provide cows with feed, so the cost of milk is high. Here we need to think differently. I repeat, you just need to know your homeland and the geography of your country.

How does Natige fare in conditions of shortage of raw milk, namely cow's milk? Many people complain that raw milk is of poor quality.

- Today Natige is provided with raw materials. This season there is a surplus of milk in Kazakhstan, because there is a surplus of milk in Russia, and raw materials are coming to us.

What about the quality of the milk? Are we talking about cow meat now?

- There are big problems with quality, because science is not developed. Let’s say any Dutch or German farmer, if something is wrong, he has somewhere to turn. They immediately come to him, check the feed, and the veterinarian checks the condition of the animals. We don't have anything like that. We have no one to turn to when you have problems, so people hire veterinarians and livestock specialists from Ukraine. We need a special laboratory, an institute. It turns out that there is no such laboratory in Kazakhstan. It turns out that we have no science next to the production of cow's milk. From time to time, to test ourselves, we send samples of our finished product: yogurt, sour cream, kefir, by plane to a Moscow laboratory, to the All-Russian Research Institute of the Dairy Industry (VNIMI). It turns out that without the support of science, competent veterinary and zootechnical services, it is problematic to develop, especially giant, enterprises in Kazakhstan.

And yet Natige has enough raw materials?

- Natige has enough raw materials, we are almost 100% loaded, we have two factories: one in Kokshetau, the other in Karaganda. The year was like this, problems in Russia helped us to secure raw materials. It turns out that our northern factories bring raw milk from Russia. We see milk being released for us. Some farms are emerging. And in the summer they told us from Russia that they could bring up to 100 tons of raw milk per day. We refused.

Currently, who is your main supplier for Natige?

- Farms of 100, 500 cows and 10 cows, peasant farms.

From Russia or Kazakhstan?

- No, I only buy from local farmers from Central Kazakhstan.

What is the future of the dairy market in Kazakhstan, in your opinion?

- We will also work approximately as we do now. Some small enterprises will open, some will close, this is natural and absolutely normal. Then, in 15 years, we’ll start switching to plant-based milk – almond, rice. And such enterprises will appear. Maybe we will be one of the first, because we have been studying this for a long time.

That is, in your opinion, in the future, plant-based milk, not mare’s or camel’s, will be developed in Kazakhstan?

- But it will all live in any case, both cow’s milk and mare’s milk, everything will live. Where will it go? The mare and camel must be developed if we think about our nation. Regarding the replacement of cow's milk - it's elementary; in coffee shops it is now fashionable to drink coffee with almond or coconut milk. Everyone will switch to plant-based milk. Who are we created for? We are created for people. What people want, what has become fashionable for people, is what we will produce. We will not be stubborn: “No, whether you want it or not, I will produce kefir.”

There is a growing generation that demands other types of milk. In supermarkets, even if expensive, different types of plant milk cost 1200 tenge. Please, this is just the beginning. In the future, ours will also be called “almond milk from Natige.” I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 years I personally start producing this milk myself. We are already ready mentally, technologically too, we know how to do it, we are slowly learning it.

What is the future for Natige?

- Natige has a great future because we are creative. We had a strategy that we would stick to the dairy direction, but this is a very difficult job, the equipment is complex, there must be specialists of various types, rare, let’s say, Kazakhstan does not really train. Therefore, taking into account the future of cow's milk, and it is not so rosy, we decided that we would engage in separate food production.

So, are you planning to leave the dairy market in the future?

- Don’t leave, but develop other food production in parallel.

Your recommendations: how to remain competitive in this market?

- Work, do marketing, without ceasing to study, no matter how old your plant, you are. Study all the time, this is the only way to remain competitive. This is fine. Just like in other products. You must always be able to win the competition. This is absolutely normal. Only competition improves us. I personally rejoice at all competitors. Especially when there is a high-quality competitor, this is in order to work even better, this is a good motivation.

Tell us what a person should be like to succeed in the dairy industry. How to create and maintain a successful enterprise?

- A person who decides to create a dairy enterprise must love business. Having started this work, he must gradually understand that he has fallen in love with a business called “milk”. A person must check himself: how much do I love this business, how much do I like it and do I enjoy what I do? This may take a year or two.

Then - the most important thing, even if it is milk or another food product - you need to understand the uniqueness of the product, how my product differs from the competitors' product. It is also important to understand that nothing will happen if you do not learn to interact with people. This is a separate topic: how to build relationships, through the prism of what values, how much we like to communicate with people, whether we know how to select a team and keep it in good shape. We can talk about this separately.

If a person simply has a desire to produce milk and even has money for it - loans, an investor, and so on - this is not enough. Little depends on this if the entrepreneur does not have such important qualities as the ability to understand people, his own values and the ability to come up with a unique product. It is very important to position your product. You can read books on this topic.

Last question. If you went back in time, would you build the dairy again?

- I would definitely build it. I fell in love with this job.

The I International Conference AqAltyn - Dairy Industry of Kazakhstan will be held on November 28, 2023 in Turkestan, Kazakhstan.

Registration for the event can be completed until November 20, 2023 VIA THIS LINK .

General partner: Clever Machines

Technology partner: Kieselmann

Altyn Sponsor: Borte Engineering

Altyn Sponsor: ANR Engineering