ZIMBABWE is targeting to produce 60 million litres of raw milk by year end as the revival of the industry continues, although the figure still falls far short of the national demand of 120 million litres per annum, an official has said.
Business Reporter
Last year, the country produced 55,9 million litres.
Speaking at the 9th African Dairy Conference and Exhibition in Harare, Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust chairperson Thompson Mabika said although the dairy industry had virtually collapsed in 2008, it has been on a growth trajectory since 2009.
“I think by the beginning of 2009, we were at around 20 to 25 million litres per year and at the moment, we think we are going to do at least 60 million litres per year,” Mabika said.
The decline in local production has opened a door to imports from regional countries.
Mabika said Zimbabwe’s dairy production was now on the same level with other African countries except South Africa.
He said Zimbabwe was still far from where it was during the 1990s and was currently producing about a third of its peak production.
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Mabika said there was need to increase the number of animals and introduce artificial insemination to increase milk production as well as address the cost of producing stockfeed as it was currently too high.
Speaking at the same event, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation minister Joseph Made said there was need for research for the secondary level product development to ensure that the country remained on the cutting edge of technology and innovation to enhance competitiveness.
“The Zimbabwe government encourages Public–Private Partnerships in order to drive training, research and extension to support and develop the emerging dairy farmers who benefited from the land reform programme with a view to stimulating dairy production,” Made said.
Made said the dairy processing industry in the region was fairly developed, producing a wide variety of dairy products.
However, processing capacities remained largely under-utilised in the region mainly due to a number of reasons which included inadequate volumes of raw milk, high utility costs, high processing cost that negatively affects prices of milk and competition from imports, among many others.
