Lovemore Kadzura
Mutare Bureau
LONG before the sun has properly settled over the misty hills of Mutasa district in Manicaland province, the day at Cynara Dairy Farmers Cooperative is already in full swing.
In the cool morning air, the steady hum of activity begins as smallholder farmers arrive to power the local milk boom.
Cows have to be fed and milk has to be collected.
For the 62 farmers who make up the cooperative, dairy farming has become a business — one that is steadily changing household incomes and opening new opportunities for families in the community.
When Cynara Dairy Farmers Cooperative was established in 2018, its annual milk production stood at just 4 000 litres.
Today, the cooperative is producing 84 000 litres a year.
And the farmers believe they are only getting started.
By 2030, they want to produce 300 000 litres annually.
The project was given a major boost when the cooperative secured a US$48 400 loan from the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank, which was used to purchase 24 in-calf heifers.
For chairperson Mr Faranando Munsunzuru, the investment materially changed the cooperative’s fortunes.
“All the heifers have since given birth and we now have over 50 cows,” he said.
The growth in the herd has been accompanied by a deliberate effort by the farmers to control their production costs.
Rather than depending entirely on purchased feed, they now grow their own.
Water — another critical requirement for dairy farming — is drawn from about three kilometres away.
That water source has become particularly important as farmers prepare for increasingly difficult weather conditions.
“We grow our own feed here. We are drawing water from a source three kilometres away, so we are not worrying much about the El Niño drought,” said Mr Munsunzuru.
The cooperative has also secured something equally important for a farming business — a reliable market.
Every two days, its milk is delivered to Dairibord Zimbabwe.
The arrangement gives farmers a ready outlet for their production while allowing them to concentrate on improving the herd and increasing yields.
For the members, however, the real measure of the cooperative’s success is not only found in litres of milk.
It is visible in their homes.
Mr Munsunzuru said household incomes had risen significantly since the cooperative began expanding, enabling members to pay school fees and improve their living standards.
“Our lives have vastly improved since the launch of the dairy cooperative. We are sending our children to school and we have no problems paying fees,” he said.
“We are leading decent lifestyles as our household incomes have risen sharply. We have graduated from peasant to commercial farmers.”
The cooperative’s membership also reflects the growing participation of women and youths in agriculture.
Of its 62 members, 26 are women and 21 are youths.
For a sector that was traditionally associated with large-scale commercial farmers, the emergence of smallholder dairy producers such as Cynara represents a significant shift.
Speaking after touring the cooperative last week, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Professor Obert Jiri said smallholder farmers were making an important contribution to the country’s milk supply.
Commercial farmers currently produce about 115 million litres of milk annually, while small-scale farmers contribute between 30 million litres and 40 million litres, he said.
The network of 31 milk collection centres across the country has also become important in bringing together milk produced by smallholder farmers.
Zimbabwe, Prof Jiri said, had achieved self-sufficiency in raw milk production, while the Government was continuing to prepare farmers for the effects of drought.
Last year, output rose to 155 million litres, with 121 million litres derived from commercial production and the balance from home consumption.
Zimbabwe’s annual milk demand is estimated at 130 million litres to 150 million litres.
“For the dairy sector, we are looking at ensuring that farmers have enough feed to be able to produce milk,” said Prof Jiri.
Most dairy farmers, he added, were already familiar with producing silage for their cattle, while the Government had established ward drought mitigation centres to assist livestock farmers where water and feed shortages arise.
For Manicaland, the growth of Cynara is part of a broader rise in smallholder dairy farming.
Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Advocate Misheck Mugadza said Government interventions, including facilitating access to loans and support for silage production, were helping farmers move into commercial agriculture.
“Smallholder farmers are holding their fort and making a mark in the dairy sector,” he said.
“Previously, the sector was dominated by large-scale farmers. However, through the timeliness of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, smallholder dairy farmers are on the rise.”
Manicaland is now ranked third nationally in milk production, according to Adv Mugadza.
At Cynara, however, the national statistics are less important than the daily rhythm of the cooperative.
The farmers have cows to feed, milk to produce and a market to supply.
Their immediate ambition is to keep growing the herd, increase production and strengthen the business they have built together.
From 4 000 litres in 2018 to 84 000 litres today, the numbers tell the story of a cooperative that has moved beyond subsistence.
The target of 300 000 litres by 2030 may appear ambitious, but for the farmers who have already turned 24 heifers into a herd of more than 50 cattle and transformed a small dairy project into a source of household income, ambition is increasingly becoming a business plan.
