Defunct dairy company to be revived

A dairy complex in Ngaoundere that has been closed since 2004 has hopes of being brought back to life thanks to a project to transfer its assets.

Ten kilometres from Ngaoundere city center on the road to Garoua, just at the weighing station before entering Dang district which houses the university, a paved road leads to the defunct Sogelait.

The milk management company (Sogelait) returned to the headlines last week after the Minister of Finance issued a notice of invitation to tender for the sale of its assets.

The site features a scenic picture. Children play on the main court under the watchful eye of a pregnant woman who piles millet on the veranda.

By leaving the regional delegation of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries for Adamawa, the CT team had been made sensitized by Ousmanou Chehou, director of the dairy station of Ngaoundere.

He had warned us that only the keeper lived there with his family. Nevertheless we could see a dozen students of Cop University of Dang, located a stone’s throw away, who had come to prepare for their exams in the peaceful grounds. "White Gold"

Four tractors are parked in a shed. "The fifth is gone," sighs a former executive who worked on this project with the Canadian cooperation. The parts were torn and machines installed in the factory were also removed.

In this complex of 400 hectares, the buildings are still standing. The garage, the plates and machines scattered through the site testify nevertheless of the fact that this village had welcomed a plant of production and transformation of the milk.

The “popularisation of forage crops” has been in hibernation since 2004, the date of closure of the Sogelait due to a tax adjustment of approximately 50 million FCFA, however the ‘farm experiment’ is still functional and receives the attentions MINEPIA.

Ousmanou Chehou, coordinator of the activities of the former dairy complex, is not pessimistic about the future. He thinks that with a good business plan the buyer can make a good deal.

Milk already has an economic value in the basin of the Vina. Milk, also known as "white gold" in the region, is produced in quantity. Ngaoundere no longer depends exclusively on the railway. The regional capital of Adamawa is now served by the aircraft and connected to the south by a paved road.

Dairy products such as yogurt, butter and cream can easily be sold to markets in the North, Far North, Chad or Sudan and to the consumption areas in the southern part of the country.

Ten years after closure, the potential to rebuild something solid on the ashes of the Sogelait is there.