Dairy farming in the desert: A Kuwaiti farmer's story

Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed Alateeqi is a large animal vet who runs an ever-expanding dairy farm in Kuwait, looking after a 440-milking herd with 500 head of replacements. His operation is manned by 22 staff and his Friesian herd was the first of its kind in Kuwait and the surrounding Persian Gulf, after his dad imported the first Dutch Friesians into the country in the 1961.

During a trip to Scotland with his family, he attended the Royal Highland Show where he met the Scottish Farmer and gave a small insight in to the dairy industry in Kuwait.

Dairy development

“Kuwait as a nation used to drink milk a long time ago, even before having a specialised dairy industry. The affluent families in old Kuwait City (pre 1960s) used to have yards next to their houses for keeping cows and producing milk and dairy products. They would share the extra milk with people in their neighbourhood.

“Even though Kuwait is a small coastal city surrounded by desert from all directions and with sea from the other direction - Kuwaitis managed to keep producing milk products to feed the nation through community collaborative work.”

“I think it is a miracle how as a nation we were able to feed our cows in a city that doesn’t produce any roughages. Old Kuwaiti people used to import them for their cows from Al-Jaharah oasis which is about 35km from Kuwait city and from other countries such as Iran by sea.

“Kuwaiti is also one of the only nations who imports its water from over 200km away. As trade began to flourish in the city and the population grew, there simply wasn’t enough ground water for all the humans and animals, so people began importing water by special ships built for that purpose.”

In 1960, the dairy industry was established and recognised as an economic activity, no longer as a charity service to the nation. Two entrepreneurs initiated modern dairy production in the country; one imported red Danish cattle and the other, Dr Alateeqi’s father, brought in Dutch Friesian cows six months later.

“My father was influenced by and drew his knowledge from the British farming system. He was a subscriber to a British dairy farming magazine and used to attend the royal agriculture show in Coventry, to update his knowledge and to refresh his relationship with UK livestock equipment companies. He started with 35 Friesians and now we are managing about 1000 animals.”

The Gulf War

The dairy industry steadily began to grow in Kuwait over the following thirty years, however, In 1990, during the Gulf War, the Iraqi army invaded and occupied Kuwait which led to the near collapse of the dairy industry.

“The invasion of kuwait in 1990-1991 temporarily destroyed our industry - we couldn’t start up again until 1995. During that time products from neighbouring countries became dominant in the market and even now, our market share is about 20%.

Costs are also increasing dramatically - we import most of our feed for the cattle from the global market, but now import prices have risen this is a real challenge,” he continued. “There were around 48 dairy farms in our union (union of fresh dairy producers) but with increasing challenges facing the sector, only 40 of them are still producing, as milk factories cannot increase their sales.

“We are also struggling currently with outbreak of brucellosis, we have a poor eradication program and we suffer annually from outbreaks of bluetongue and foot-and-mouth disease, which becomes an endemic disease.”

Although Kuwait established its dairy industry before other countries in the Persian Gulf, the setback of the 1990 invasion of Iraq has meant that they are still playing catch up against neighbouring countries who received greater financial investment and are now operating huge scale operations.

Kuwaiti farmers struggle to compete against the mega farms in Saudi Arabia with 20,000 animal units, compared with Kuwait where the average herd size is 350.

“Big dairy operations in Saudi received strategic support from their government during the establishment of their dairies, which has allowed them to invest well in better management and ensuring optimum cow comfort; which in turn resulted in better infrastructure and higher quality operations. Saudi Arabia are producing on average 40 litres per cow daily where we are producing around 25 litres.”

Resilience

Kuwaiti farmers have adapted their operations to ensure their survival even when faced with constant weather challenges: “Summers in Kuwait are some of the hottest on earth! They last for almost six months between April and September."

Although the weather is challenging, dairying has been able to remain successful thanks to modern technologies which have been adopted.

“We use artificial insemination on our cows and heifers predominantly. Planned breeding is carried out using standard protocols by qualified professionals and we calve year-round to minimise replacement costs. Occasionally bulls are used on cows that fail to conceive even after six inseminations.

“The cattle here are milked three times a day, but twice in other parts of Kuwait. They mostly stay indoors on the barn but are free to go outside if they chose. Our cattle live for an average of five years and manage on average three lactations – a few have made five.”

He went on to explain that the price farmers receive for their milk is dictated by a competitive market in which they struggle to contend with: “We only produce and sell liquid milk to local factories in the region and 98% of all milk production in the country is currently sold as liquid milk. We are unable to increase our market share in local markets as the competition from neighbouring countries is too strong. They are much bigger dairies and we cannot compete with their professionalism and economic structure – we are slowly being pushed off the market.”

Unable to compete with high volume production in the neighbouring Gulf, he stressed that there are also issues regarding cost of production, which is leading to many farms in the country closing down.

“Feed expenses take up to 75% of our dairy farming budget and because our milk prices are regulated by the government, we don’t have any control of pricing. The milk price is also going down because of dumping of milk from neighbouring companies - the milk price just covers the feed price, if that!”

Animal welfare

He explained that animal welfare is a top priority in Kuwaiti due to their Islamic culture, which leads them to respecting animals as sentient beings. It became clear that there is a moral obligation for the mostly Muslim population to ensure that high animal welfare standards are common practice.

“It is a religious obligation for Muslims to prioritise animal welfare,” he insisted. “Mohammed teaches us how to treat animals and it is widely seen as a good deed to look after stray animals not only your own livestock and we are ordered to do no harm to animals. Furthermore, we have good legislation for protecting and ensuring animal welfare. Yet, there is always a need in general to improve government policy to ensure the availability of high quality, well trained individuals to enforce good animal welfare practice and to stop outbreak of infectious diseases.”

Opportunities

Dr Alateeqi believes that in order to improve the future sustainability of dairy farming in the region, farmers will either have to upscale production to mega farm operations or small firms will need to invest in improving cow comfort and upgrading their operation. He suggested that with investing in smart farming, farmers must look at expanding beyond liquid milk into other products that add value to the business.

“I am keen to look at adding value to my operation by making cheese or other products I can sell, but this will involve a marketing strategy. There are opportunities out there, but they require a lot of groundwork.”

He is determined to safeguard the future of dairy businesses in Kuwaiti and explained how he intends to create a centre of excellence in which he hopes to educate farmers on best practice and how to make their businesses more sustainable in an increasingly competitive market.

“Students from the Netherlands come here to spend the summer on my farm and we learn together, and we want to continue the process of knowledge transfer. We want to make our farm an education centre of excellence, where we can teach young people about farming and were milk comes from. We want to be able to teach animal owners and farmers how to look after their animals and what equipment, animal feed and different techniques they should be using to make their dairy farms more efficient.”

He explained his hopes to open a research facility where he will welcome collaboration from Scotland, the wider UK, European students or scientists, to share knowledge on the dairy farming industry.

Rounding off, he reiterated his commitment to ensuring the survival of Kuwaiti dairy farming for generations to come. “Farming is in my genes and it’s a heritage I wish to keep for my family. My father started this business before any other country in the Gulf area and I want to ensure it remains in safe hands for the years to come,” He concluded.