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Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
KWEKWE-based milk processor; Dendairy has announced plans to offer technical assistance to Kaguvi Vocational Training Centre near Gweru. The partnership is aimed at ensuring that the institution produces highly skilled dairy farmers and technical experts.
The company managing director Darren Coetzee said the move will go a long way in boosting the country’s dairy industry.
“We’ll be looking for funds to help our Kaguvi Vocational Training Centre and try to assist them to grow a dairy section. One of our main objectives is to get one of the institutions that can train dairy farming,” he said.
Following the snapping up of a 20 percent stake by a Norwegian based firm that injected $6 million capital into the firm, Coetzee said the company will not be investing in the short to medium term but will focus on investing on new products to hit the market soon.
Investments in the last five years by the company have seen capacity utilisation being ramped up to 35 percent with the Kwekwe plant now operational 24 hours a day on three shifts. The staff complement has also shot up to 280 workers with 50 additional employees who include specialists recruited in the past year alone.
The country is battling to boost milk production with 50 percent of local demand being offset by imports. An average of 10 million litres of milk is consumed monthly in the country. The assistance by Dendairy to Kaguvi comes as the country’s biggest shoe manufacturer, Bata Shoe Company has already embarked on the development of skills where it has set up shoe manufacturing equipment at Mupfure Vocational Training Centre near Chegutu.
Online Reporter