Who We Are
MN Kruger Meats Pty is part of the Meat Naturally social enterprise network. It is owned by communal farmers implementing regenerative grazing in South Africa and is proudly supported by Conservation International and Peace Parks Foundation to provide market access opportunities for farmers involved in their Herding for Health Program.
Our Background and History
Livestock farmers living adjacent to wildlife areas lose between 10%-20% – sometimes 30% percent – of their herd to predators that sometimes get out through the fence. If they’re not losing them to predators, they lose them to diseases that are coming from wildlife. There’s tremendous animosity between the two. Promoting this coexistence requires a significant investment initially.
Besides wildlife conflict with communities living adjacent to protected areas, there is also the risk of poaching when people struggle to survive and returns are not high from cattle farming. But if cattle farming becomes more profitable, and there are more options for people to support their livelihoods, poaching and illegal trade in wildlife diminishes. Meat Naturally together with Conservation South Africa saw the opportunity to improve the economics of cattle farming adjacent to Kruger by providing mobile
auctions and production support. Auctions are a collaborative effort to reward farmers who commit to rotational grazing and resting through the conservation stewardship agreement entered into by a Grazing Association. However, due to the restrictions on trading live animals due to foot and mouth disease in the Kruger area, it became clear that a mobile abattoir that could transport carcasses rather than live animals was required for the model work in this region.
Through a grant from the Industrial Development Corporation and a SAB Foundation Social Innovation Award, MN Kruger Meats launched the first mobile abattoir for communal farmers in Africa in February 2024. In this business model, MN Kruger Meats purchases animals from farmers who are participating in a conservation agreement that requires no poaching and improved grazing management in a Kruger buffer zone community. Once processed by the abattoir and butchery, MN Kruger Meats sells meat products to SANParks shops, lodges, and training colleges in the area (WITS Rural and the SA Wildlife College).
Business Structure
MN Kruger Meats is a member of the Meat Naturally social enterprise network, constituted under South African legislation as a commercial business # 2022/ 481350/07 held by Meat Naturally Pty Ltd (60%) and MN Kruger Trust (40%). The forty percent (40%) trust shareholding interests are 100% owned by communal farmers who sell through it and the intention is to transfer 100% shareholding to the Trust as the business operations break-even.
The Trust Deed ensures that it represents all farmers in the Kruger buffer communal lands that sell through the abattoir and are compliant with their conservation agreements. The remaining 60% shareholding is with Meat Naturally Pty who retain governance control for an initial five year period while capacity of the Kruger Trust representative is built.
This structure provided assurity to Kruger National Park of the conservation commitments of MN Kruger Meats, whilst also providing a new vehicle for helping local farmers in the buffer zone gain shareholding into the formal private sector.
Establishing a Local Red Meat Supply Chain That’s Low Carbon and Local
Visitors to the Kruger Park can purchase MN Kruger Meats products at the Bohlabela Visitor Center in Mnisi outside of the Orpen Gate. Importantly, MN Kruger Meats is establishing a network of local distributors in the communities where the cattle are purchased. This creation of a local meat supply for farming communities in the Kruger buffer zone avoids the need for people to travel long distances to towns to buy fresh meat from retailers whose money then goes back to the urban centers. Allowing local circulation of cash and food security through a truly sustainable and low carbon, local red meat supply chain is the greatest achievement of this MN business unit.
A Partnership To Nourish Young Lives
MN Kruger has partnered with NOURISH, an early childhood feeding scheme by providing an opportunity for tourists visiting the region to invest in food security and nutrition in the communities that buffer Kruger National Park. Visitors to Kruger or lodges in the area can donate R1000 worth of meat (which supplies 10kg of beef stew or mince) that MN Kruger will provide to the Nourish Eco Village. This will help serve 150 children per donation and add essential protein to meals as part of our their school programme feeding scheme.
For more information contact Matome Matlabo, email: [email protected]