NEW: Dairy farmers get more calves

Tendai Chara

One-hundred and thirty-four smallholder dairy farmers will receive 153 in-calf heifers worth US$223 074 on Friday under the European Union (EU)-funded Transforming Zimbabwe’s Dairy Value Chain for the Future (TranZDVC) project.

Last month, 121 dairy farmers from the country’s 10 provinces received 147 in-calf heifers under the same programme.

The heifer handover ceremony will, as it was on the previous occasion, be held at Zengea Farm, Marirangwe, in Seke District, Mashonaland East Province.

We Effect Zimbabwe, along with its co-implementing partners – Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF), Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) and Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust (ZDIT) – imported the in-calf heifers from South Africa.

The in-calf heifers, which are Jersey and Friesen-Jersey crosses, landed in Zimbabwe at a cost of US$1 458 per animal.

TranZDVC project coordinator Dr Edson Chifamba said through the importation of the in-calf heifers, TranZDVC will increase the production of milk in Zimbabwe from 75 million litres in 2018 to 120 million litres per year by next year.

“Apart from increasing milk production, this programme will also increase the participation of small-scale farmers, especially women and youth, in the dairy value chain,” Dr Chifamba said.

Over the two years, the project has reached more than 4 000 smallholder farmers, 36 percent of whom are women.