Andrew
Enacy Mapakame
Zimbabwe’s dairy sector is targeting to increase raw milk production to meet demand and take advantage of the vast export opportunities on both the regional and global markets.
For 2022, the sector is projecting 90 million litres of raw milk against a target of 120 million litres. Despite the 41 million litre deficit, the projected 2022 figure represents a 130 percent growth from 39 million litres that was produced in 2009 when the sector hit its lowest production.
The projected growth comes as the Government has been supporting the dairy sector through national budgets following the introduction of a 5 percent duty on dairy imports to finance the dairy recovery programme.
Under the livestock and recovery growth plan, milk production is expected to rise from annual production of 79,9 million litres to 150 million litres while the dairy herd is anticipated to grow from 39 980 to 60 000 by 2025.
Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF) chairman, Mr Ernest Muzorewa, acknowledged the Government support especially to small holder producers and growth prospects were high across the value chain.
The sector also recently launched a local heifer production, which seeks to help grow dairy heifers locally as opposed to imports. This, Mr Muzorewa said, would also narrow costs of production for the farmers.
“Dairy farmers have been supported through the presidential input scheme with fertilisers and seed which have gone a long way to improve productivity on the farms especially for small holder farmers,” said Mr Muzorewa at the Global Renaissance Investments (GRI) Smart Farming Indaba in Victoria Falls last week.
“As Dairy farmers, we are working on supporting development plan especially the livestock growth plan, that is our focus as dairy farmers. There are a lot of opportunities in the region and on the global market.
“Milk is one of the biggest agricultural products and yet as a region, Africa accounts for only 3 percent of global cow milk production. It is, however, good to note we are growing.
“Our Ministry (Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development) is looking at increased raw milk production as opposed to importing milk powders to fill the deficit. This is the path we are taking as guided by the Ministry,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s annual demand for milk stands at 120 million litres, which the Southern African country has been failing to reach for over a decade now.
In terms of global milk production, Zimbabwe is ranked 136th according to the International Farm Comparison Network Dairy Report 2021 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Mr Muzorewa said their plan as dairy farmers was also the graduation of small holder farmers into medium scale, while medium scale should grow into large scale producers with current large scale becoming mega dairies.
This, Mr Muzorewa said, would not only boost earnings for farmers, but see Zimbabwe making an impact on the global market, which is dominated by India which produces 23 percent of global milk output.
Milk accounts for 14 percent of global agriculture trade and 27 percent of global value added products from livestock.
The sector is, however, not immune to the challenges affecting the agriculture sector and the economy as a whole, key among them climate change and the growing shift to vegan diets.
“Climate uncertainties are a problem. Our livestock suffer heat stress, shortages of water and limited fodder production due to climate related weather volatilities.
“This also increases the cost of production,” said Mr Muzorewa.
Online Reporter