adminA cursory look at most supermarket shelves and refrigerators confirms that there are many imported dairy products, some from countries which used to import these products from Zimbabwe.
The decline of the national dairy herd has been blamed for the drastic drop in milk production.
The country now has just 24 000 dairy cows from the 104 000 in 2002. At its peak, the country used to produce 700 million litres of milk a year forcing farmers at times to literally throw milk down the drain to keep prices firm as an oversupply could have meant lower producer prices.
Many farmers who were into dairying abandoned the enterprise citing viability and other operational challenges, resulting in production falling, at one time, to as low as one million litres a year.
We believe that government and other players must do something to rescue the dairy industry and take it to its former glory.
Like most sectors in the economy, the dairy sector suffered from years of economic decline witnessed in the decade between 2000 and 2010. However, since dollarisation in 2009, the economy has been picking up and some sectors, especially the food and beverages sector, have recovered and a number are operating at almost full capacity.
Output in the dairy sector has also picked up but it does not augur well for the country to rely on almost 50 percent of its milk requirements from imports.
This calls for the government and other players to intervene.
Dairying is capital intensive. Dairy cows cost a fortune and those who venture into the business have to be sound financially.
While companies such as Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited and Nestle Zimbabwe have launched dairy cow schemes to boost milk production, we believe a lot more needs to be done to bring back the sector to its former glory days.
Farmers need to be incentivised to go into milk production by offering them prices that are comparable or better to those obtained by crops such as tobacco. As long as the producer price of milk is not attractive, few farmers will take up the venture.
The Government also needs to come up with a scheme specifically targeted at milk producers. It should make the recovery of the dairy sector a national priority and not leave it to companies who are motivated by commercial interests.
We also believe that there is an untapped source of milk in communal areas.
Community dairy projects need to be launched in rural areas and newly resettled areas to capitalise on the cattle herd in these areas.
There have been successful dairy projects run by communal farmers such as the Umzingwane Dairy Association in Matabeleland South. This project, made up of farmers in Mawabeni, Esigodini, Nswazi and Mbalabala, used to produce 600 litres of milk a day which was processed and sold to the community.
If 1 000 such projects can be started around the country, it means an additional 600 000 litres of milk can be produced daily by our communal farmers, creating a regular source of income for people in rural areas and reducing the country’s huge import bill.
Online Reporter