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Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer
THE dairy sector has hit a purple patch that saw production recording a 14 percent growth with milk volumes rising to 91, 4 million in 2022 from 79, 6 million litres in 2021 following a US$20 million investment by producers, processors and development partners.
This came out in a quarterly meeting of stakeholders in the dairy value chain (DVC) that was hosted by the Agriculture Marketing Authority (AMA) in Harare recently.
Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF) Economist Mrs Antonette Chingwe said investments by various players in the DVC had influenced this positive growth. She was speaking on behalf of ZADF Chief executive officer Mrs Paidamoyo Chadoka.
“Approximately US$20 million investments across the DVC in 2022 have resulted in the country producing 91, 4 million litres of raw milk up from 79, 6 the previous year.
“60 percent of the investment was channeled towards improving efficiency and capacity at processing level,” she said.
She said new entrants into the sector had also been mobilised.
The country needs a minimum of 131 million litres of milk for self-sufficiency. Last year’s shortfall was 40 million litres and this figure is expected to go below 30 million by end of this year if the country achieves the anticipated 20 percent growth target this year with 108 million litres projected to be realised this year.
Mrs Chadoka said there had been a marked increase in capacity utilisation from 40 percent in 2020 to the current 60 percent with some local processors exporting their products to regional markets.
The meeting noted that cream, dairy beverages, fermented milk, ice cream and yoghurt were all produced locally while butter, cheese and powdered milk were mainly imported.
Stakeholders in the DVC cited high feed costs, low level of productivity, low dairy herd size and quality, limited availability of low-cost long-term funding and illegal imports as militating against increased raw milk production.
To ricochet raw milk production stakeholders cited in-calf heifers, sexed and conventional semen straws and machinery as requirements by producers while processors named investments in processing and transportation infrastructure.
To strengthen DVC, stakeholders said there was need to move from the current production and marketing structure where farmers, suppliers, processors and Government were working in isolation with little cohesion. The ideal scenario requires the private and public sectors and dairy farmers’ wheels to propel each other.
Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (LMAC), Executive administrator Dr Reneth Mano said there was need for a properly structured dairy investment fund to provide loans to trained farmers.
“The dairy industry is in dire need of a properly structured dairy investment fund (DIF) to offer loans to trained and capacitated small to medium-sized dairy farmers.
“There is need for three-to-five-year group capital investment loans for increasing the number of crossbreed dairy cows per farmer under the scheme to a minimum of five within the next three years,” he said.
Dr Mano added that it was necessary to finance sustained production of protein rich dairy fodder and feed crops every summer for making silage, hay bales, mineral licks as part of the dairy business hub planned for each of the small-scale dairy production centres in every district of Zimbabwe.
The DVC stakeholders proffered policy recommendations such as the need for bureau veritas inspection (BVI) done by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to be exempted from licenses and permits requirements to facilitate urgent clearance of spares worth less than US$10 000.
Stakeholders also want a relook on import quotas, cost of doing business, certificate of origin, import license, product classification and establishment of a one stop shop.
Online Reporter