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Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s raw milk production grew three percent to 47,6 million litres in the first 10 months of 2015 compared to 46 million litres in the same period last year. Statistics from the Dairy Services Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development show that total intake of milk by processors was up 1.4 percent to 41,7 million litres in the review period from 41,1 million litres.

Milk retailed by producers also increased by 17,3 percent from 4,916,913 million litres to 5,947,695 million litres. Month-on-month, production for October recorded a 0,02 percent rise at 5,038 million litres compared to 5,037 million litres produced in January.

Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers’ (ZADF) national chairman, Emmanuel Zimbandu, told Business Chronicle the increase was driven by the heifer importation programme.

“We’ve recorded a three percent increase in raw milk production in the country in the first 10 months of the year. This was a result of the growth of a wide range of dairy heifer schemes in the country, which are now contributing steadily to the revenue,” said Zimbandu.

He, however, said the association has noted the dairy industry continues to face challenges to ramp output and processing capacity. “The major challenge includes high costs of production and lack of security, which inflates the cost of accessing finance for growth,” said Zimbandu.

Despite the growth in production, Zimbabwe is still lagging behind other countries in the region in terms of output. Last year, there was a notable increase in production as processors like Dairibord, Nestle and Dendairy also embarked on heifer importation schemes, a move that has contributed to an improvement this year.

Annual milk output for 2014 stood at 55.5 million litres up from 54,7 million litres in 2013. The dairy industry is currently operating at 45 percent capacity, with an estimated 223 registered dairy operators and a dairy herd of about 26,000.

The government has said it is working on a livestock policy to drive the industry towards efficiency of production as well as growing the capacities of small-scale dairy farmers.

In 1990, the country was producing over 256 million litres and exporting into the region and beyond before plummeting to an all-time low of 36 million litres in 2009 as the economic environment slowed. Production improved marginally to approximately 55,5 million litres in 2014.

In 2014, Zimbabwe’s annual raw milk production increased 1,5 percent compared to 2013 mainly due to increased availability of inputs locally. During the period under review, 55,5 million litres of milk were produced compared to 54,7 million litres produced the previous year.