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THE Government will early next year import about 700 high yielding milk breed heifers from South Africa as part of efforts to revive the country’s dairy industry, which has been on a decline for over a decade.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation, Irrigation and Development responsible for livestock production, Paddy Zhanda said Government and various stakeholders in the dairy sector are in the process of mobilising $1 million for the importation of the heifers.
He said the ministry was satisfied with the steady recovery of the dairy sector. Industry statistics show that Zimbabwe’s dairy cow herd stands at 26 000, down from a peak of 119 200 in the 1990s. This has resulted in low milk production in the country — local raw milk production is 4, 5 million litres per month against estimated national demand of slightly over 8,1 million litres per month.
“In terms of our fund we are almost getting there. The intention of that fund is for the importation of heifers so that at the end of the day we produce more milk locally and reduce our imports. For the time being we are looking at about 600 to 700 heifers.
“We have got a committee and we have set a template in terms of who are going to be the beneficiaries particularly aiming at the growth from the small scale farmers because that’s where the potential growth of the milk sector lies,” Dep Minister Zhanda said.
Last year, dairy farmers appealed to the Government to ban foreign dairy products from flooding the market and start supporting the local sector to boost production. Zimbabwe imports 60 percent of its milk and milk products from neighbouring South Africa.
Former Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF) chairman Mr Craig Follwell said the importation would go a long way towards improving productivity in the sector.
“It (importation of heifers) will be of substantially benefit to the dairy industry as this is part of the Dairy Revitalisation Programme aimed at improving the sector’s productivity and as an association we are working closely with the Ministry, it’s a multi-stakeholders initiative,” he said.
The Dairy Revitalisation Programme is being spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust (ZDIT), an organisation comprising dairy farmers, milk processors and Government agricultural departments.
The organisation realises its funds through levies paid by players in the dairy industry as well as a specific levy obtained from companies importing Ultra-High-Temperature milk. In 2014, ZADF signed a three-year partnership with We Effect (formerly Swedish Co-operative Centre) to enable local dairy farmers to continue improving their capacity to provide services to their members. Mr Follwell said there has been a marked improvement to the country’s milk volumes over the years.
“At the present moment we are producing between 4, 2 million to 4, 5 million litres per month and over the last six months there has been a growth of one percent,” he said.
Online Reporter