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Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent 

ZIMBABWE has increased its milk production by four million litres from last year despite the harsh climatic conditions, Midlands Dairy Farmers’ Association chairperson, Mr Douglas Msipa said.

He said the dairy sector was now producing 150 million litres against a demand of 180 million per year. Zimbabwe is importing about 30 million litres from South Africa to cover the deficit. 

Mr Msipa said milk production has improved since last year despite poor rainfall received in the last summer cropping season, which resulted in scarcity of pastures.

“We improved on milk production by about four million litres this year compared to last year. This is despite the scarcity of pastures due to drought. If our farmers benefit from Command Dairy, we have no doubt that we will meet the national demand and reduce the Government’s import bill,” he said.

Mr Msipa said Government has asked dairy farmers in the country to submit a proposal to be incorporated into the Command Dairy model in an endeavour to increase milk production and reduce the import bill. 

“Government has helped us in so many ways before. We know there is a policy to spare dairy farms from the land redistribution exercise. This time Government has asked us to submit a proposal so that we will be incorporated into Command Agriculture. We understand Government wants to introduce Command Dairy, which will help us enhance productivity.