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Luthando Mapepa
Chipinge Correspondent
SMALL-SCALE dairy farmers in Chipinge are fretting over high costs of transporting milk to the Dairibord factory in the farming town.
Interviewed farmers in Ward Six of Chipinge said they are relying on hired transport as they have no capacity to buy their own vehicles to transport their product.
The farmers said they are currently building a milk collection point at Mugondi which will be used by farmers in Ward Six and surrounding areas.
One of the farmer, Mrs Elizabeth Sithole, said the high transport costs are eating into their profits and appealed for Government intervention. “I am a milk farmer and I have one cow. My cow produces 15 litres per day and I have to transport it daily to the collection centre. As a group of farmers, we pay US$50 every week for transport, and this is a lot of money,” she said.
Chipinge Rural District Council Ward Six Councillor Willard Munoku said the community is constructing a collection centre for the milk.
“Locals have pooled resources to construct a collection centre. However this is taking too long to complete due to lack of resources. “The farmers recently received a donation from the Chipinge business community towards the completion of the building and we hope to complete the project this year.
“The farmers are not making any profits because the biggest chunk of their money is being used to transport the milk,” said Councillor Munoku.
Online Reporter