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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
THE modern technology and fully automated packaging equipment at Kwekwe-based dairy company, Dendairy, has drawn plaudits from the Government and the Belarusian government which pledged more support to the company to attain maximum capacity.
The company’s top-notch operations are part of the attractions for the visiting Belarus delegation which is in the country as a follow up to a number of agreements that were signed during a State visit by President Aleksandr Lukashenko in February.
After meeting President Mnangagwa on Wednesday, the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Mr Leonid Zayats, embarked on a tour of agro-businesses across the country.
After touring Nestle and Dairibord in Harare, the delegation visited Doreen’s Pride in Kadoma and Dendairy Farm and Dendairy plant in Kwekwe yesterday.
The team also had an appreciation of President Mnangagwa’s farming efforts at his Precabe Farm in Kwekwe.
Mr Zayats was impressed by what he saw at Dendairy which is operating at 30 percent capacity as it slowly recuperates from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s a state-of-the-art enterprise which produces the best milk for the consumers,” he said. “We have seen fully automated modern technology, one of the best packaging equipment which very few people have here. That’s why we believe the quality of the product is very high.”
Belarus, he said, stood ready to assist the company in any way possible.
“We would propose to contribute to this enterprise and add some new equipment in some other parts of the country,” said Mr Zayats. “But what is also needed is to develop agriculture which provides raw milk to such enterprises.
“We know that the company is operating at 30 percent capacity.
They need more raw milk and Belarus can help in production of more raw milk needed to make the company attain full capacity.”
Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Vangelis Haritatos said there was a lot of co-operation between the two countries and there was a need for Zimbabwe to tap into what Belarus had as the country sought to attain milk self-sufficiency.
“You can tell what level of relationship we have with Belarus and we now need to tap into their superior genetics, technology and expertise,” he said. “If we blend everything together, we will be able to close the deficiency we currently have.”
Deputy Minister Haritatos said the dairy sector was facing raw milk shortages, hence hampering the sector and Belarus can play a key role.
“So far, we have toured a number of dairy companies across the country and raw milk is in short supply,” he said.
“We need to ensure that we use our operations to full capacity. As you can see that Dendairy is operating only at 30 percent.
“We need to close the deficit and help local companies produce at full capacity and we start exporting.”
Executive director of Dendairy Mr Daryl Archibald said the company was still smarting from the effects of the pandemic and was still struggling to get the products into the market.
“We have a capacity of producing about 10 million litres of products per month ranging from ice cream, fruit juice, fermented milk (mars) and milk, but currently we are producing between three million and 3,5 million litres per month. It’s just about getting our products back into the market given the tumultuous time we are coming from.”
Mr Archibald said they needed the equipment from Belarus.
“We need raw materials from Belarus,” he said. “Currently we have some material that we are getting from other countries. If they pass our quality test, we can redirect them to Belarus.”
Already, there is increased trade between the two countries, particularly in the field of agriculture where Belarus has so far supplied more than 2 000 pieces of agricultural equipment with more than 3 500 tractors on their way.
With the support, Zimbabwe has made significant strides towards achieving food security that has largely eliminated the country’s import bill and is starting to open the door to food exports again.
Online Reporter