Agra
Agra have been one of the pillars of the agricultural community of Namibia since its inception in 1980, operating as a market driven business within the retail industry. Rooted in Agriculture, Agra has developed a vast network of branches over Namibia, some 4300 shareholders and more than 800 employees, Agra has certainly established itself as a significant Namibian business. We strive to remain the preferred destination for the Namibian farmer as well as non-farming retail and wholesale clients, by offering quality products at reasonable prices backed by trusted advice and excellent client service. We have experienced stable growth and are proud to be a fully-fledged Namibian organisation.
We provide various growth and development opportunities for our employees in the form of internal training courses, study aid or external development opportunities.
We invest in the Namibian community via sponsorship, support programmes and educational initiatives on various platforms.
We remain dedicated to creating prosperity, improving quality of life by contributing towards the socioeconomic environment of Namibia; caring about our environment and building innovative and sustainable businesses.
The first Namibian co-operative, Farmers Co-operative Union (FCU), was founded in 1946. It operated as a branch, situated in Cape Town, with an initial marketing focus on wool and karakul pelts, produced by Namibian farmers. In 1949, Port Elizabeth based organisation Boeresaamwerk Bpk. opened its doors in Namibia, operating with the same objectives as the FCU.
Over the years, both co-operatives extended their operations to become fully-fledged agricultural co-operatives in direct competition with each other. On 1 July 1975 they eventually joined forces by founding one single co-operative, the Boere Koöperatief Beperk (BKB). BKB was still controlled by South Africans, although Namibians were represented on the board of directors.
The desire for an independent control by farmers and the agricultural community over Namibian operations resulted in the foundation of an independent co-operative for Namibians.
AGRA (Co-op) Ltd. took over the operations of BKB on 1 July 1980 forming the first Namibian agricultural co-operative.
After 33 years of building a successful business, Agra converted into Agra Limited on 1 February 2013, a public non-listed company, in order to adapt to the ever-evolving trends in agricultural and business world. A broader capital base provides Agra with the facilitation of investment and working capital in order to upgrade its infrastructure, expand its branches and business portfolio.