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Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Business Reporter
THE production of lucerne has transformed the milk industry in Zimbabwe, as the fodder has seen a drop in the cost of milk production and increased the quality of the product, according to stakeholders.
Through a partnership between the Government and the European Union (EU)-funded Transforming the Zimbabwe Dairy Value Chain for the Future, small-scale dairy farmers around Zimbabwe have seen an increase in milk output as they have received calves and lucerne seeds to boost production.
According to Mrs Monica Macheka, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Development’s Masvingo district dairy dietician, the protein concentration of lucerne silage, which averages 18 percent to 22 percent of dry matter, is significantly higher than that of maize silage, which is about 8 percent.
“This benefit is offset by a lower metabolisable energy content. Farmers can use lucerne to substitute grass silage or maize silage without affecting animal performance.
“This provides the foundation for reducing supplementary feeding costs.
“For example, replacing 3 kilogrammes (kg) of dry matter of maize silage with lucerne silage, balanced by extra cereal to raise the starch content, reduces the need for rapeseed meal by 1,3kg,” said Mrs Macheka.
According to statistics from the ministry, lucerne production has lowered the cost of milk to about 50 US cents per litre compared to up to 70 US cents per litre previously.
Mr Tinashe Manjengwa, a dairy farmer from Chiredzi, hailed the lucerne programme as his cost of feed has gone down.
“Since the programme began in 2022, I have seen my costs of production drop as maize and soya have been expensive. Also, with the risk of drought being eliminated in terms of own maize production, it has been a good investment to move to lucerne,” Mr Manjengwa said.
The ministry’s dairy coordinator for Manicaland, Dr Stephen Magorogosho, said: “This is why we want to continue seeing lucerne being grown at an industrial scale so that we can have farmers focusing solely on growing lucerne so that smallholder producers can purchase cheap-priced feed.
“By 2025, we should be able to hit 130 million litres of milk per year and meet the national requirement,” he said.
Replacing some grass silage with lucerne silage in milking cow diets has been shown to increase dry matter intake, milk production and quality.
“For overall feed costs, the inclusion of lucerne in a diet does help save on bought-in protein concentrate costs, assuming the protein in the lucerne silage is greater than the protein in grass silage,” said Mrs Macheka.
Dr Edson Chifamba, an international dairy expert, said milk production per acre had proven to be high when grazing lucerne.
“Medium- and large-scale dairy farmers in Zimbabwe have been using lucerne for a while now; however, the uptake by small-scale farmers is currently growing at an exponential rate.
“This is because lucerne has proved to reduce milk production costs significantly,” he said.
Lucerne is also tolerant to drought, thanks to its deep-rooted system. While it may not experience maximum growth during droughts, it does serve the purpose of a good summer pasture.
This is even more helpful during a period of extreme drought such as the one marked by El Niño conditions, which results in the cool-season grasses becoming dormant.
Dr Chifamba said: “In the last season, a lot of farmers grew lucerne in Zimbabwe; unfortunately, the actual statistics of lucerne tonnage produced have not been quantified.
“Although the drought was severe, lucerne was not as affected as other fodder crops, especially cereals.”
Despite a bad season, Zimbabwe’s milk production continued to rise. The output increased by 9 percent, from 91 million litres in 2022 to 99,8 million litres in 2023.
In 2024, milk production continued to rise as 27,76 million litres were reported in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 22,6 million litres in the first quarter of 2023, a 22,8 percent increase.
“The milk production target for 2024 is 113 million litres. Initially, for 2025, the target was 150 million litres. Understandably, it is a very big jump. This can only be attained through livestock additions and increase in milk productivity per cow per day,” Dr Chifamba added.
Online Reporter