adminMercy Ngwebvu
DAIRY farming has been part of Zimbabwe’s agriculture for years and historically, it has been part of small, diverse farms. Given a chance and enough support, dairy farming in Zimbabwe can win back the country’s home market of dairy products as well as restore its competitiveness. This year’s Zimbabwe Association for Dairy Farmers (ZADF), Small-Scale Farmer of the Year Award was scooped by a Honde Valley farmer, Mr Amos Chitungo, who walked away with a pure breed Heifer from ZADF, 10 bags cattle feed from National Foods, wound oil and a product hamper from Barca Chemicals.
Honde Valley lies in Mutasa District and the weather conditions in the area favour most horticultural activities, but animal husbandry has not been very successful, mainly due to the heavy rainfall and unsuitable pastures that cannot support the survival of most breeds of cattle, goats and sheep.
Born in Mapeza Village under Ishe Muzvare Muparutsa in Mutasa North constituency, Mr Chitungo ventured into dairy farming in 2011, taking advantage of the availability of water that flows all year round and can be gravitated to almost every homestead in the Valley from the surrounding mountains.
Speaking about success, Mr Chitungo expressed determination to contribute towards the betterment of the country’s dairy farming industry.
“I am glad that my hard work has yielded these brilliant results. My success does not end here.
“My wife and I have a long-term plan to grow our herd to 20 milking cows as well as managing the A1 breeding programme, which will see one breeding bull and eight female calves every year.
Mr Chitungo now has a total herd of 26 beasts. An average of 160 litres of milk is produced daily at his farm, with 2 100 litres being the monthly milk volume produced.
Speaking at the prize-giving ceremony held at Chitungo’s farm last week, ZADF chairman, Mr Craig Follwell, said the dairy industry had a pivotal contribution towards the achievement of the Zim-Asset blueprint.
Said Follwell: “There is a direct link between our small-scale dairy producer, with their huge achievement of 2 million litres and the four pillars of the Zim-Asset blueprint, especially Food Security and Nutrition and Value Addition and Beneficiation.
“Through increased local production of milk as well as its nutritional value which makes it an important part of the local diet, Food Security and Nutrition will somehow be achieved.
“Increased local production will reduce imports as well as generate income for Government through taxes. Increased capacity utilisation will result in employment creation in downstream industries, thereby facilitating improved household incomes and poverty reduction.”
Farming has for years been the sole backbone of the Honde Valley economy because the prevailing conditions favour the growing of cash crops like tea, coffee and bananas, among other crops.
Dairy farming has, however, remained a peripheral farming activity which is concentrated in the higher parts of the valley where grazing land is shared with the Department of National Parks and Wild Life.
About 20 percent of families in the Honde Valley area have over the years maintained a very small herd that has constantly been trimmed to five cattle per family.
Also at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Livestock), Cde Paddy Zhanda described Mr Chitungo as an organised farmer who is set to take far the country’s dairy industry.
“The management at this farm is up to the best standards. I was most impressed by the fact that Mr Chitungo takes record keeping seriously.
“The failure by most farmers to keep records is one of the loopholes in the small-holder dairy farming sector and it retards progress.
“I urge farmers around here to emulate this good work to boost the country’s national milk production so that it meets national demand,” said Cde Zhanda.
The Manicaland Province’s national milk production is 4,5 million litres and it is currently contributing 18 percent towards national milk production.
There are a total of eight registered dairy processors and 26 dairy producers in the province.
Five of these processors are small to medium scale.
This group is producing value added products like Amasi, yoghurt and pasteurised milk for the local and rural communities.
The three main producers are Dairibord Chipinge, Lamour Dairy and Dairibord Mutare.
The latter, however, is currently not processing, but is receiving milk from farmers because of the low milk volumes which are being delivered. These then make it unviable for Dairibord Mutare to run as a plant.
The Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers has a three-year partnership agreement with We Effect (formerly Swedish Co-operative Centre), an arrangement which has enabled the organisation’s capacity to improve its member services.
The partnership is also expected to improve livelihoods and job creation within the country’s dairy industry.
Online Reporter