Zim raw milk production up

Zim Now Writer

Zimbabwe's raw milk intake by processors went up by 10% to 23.88 million litres in Februray 2023, according to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.

Retailed milk by producers decreased by 17% to 1.21 million litres compared to the same period in 2022.

In February, raw milk output was 6.95 million litres, representing a 3.42% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.

The figure represent a decrease of 15% if compared to January 2023.

Generally, the Zimbabwe's milk production trend has been upward with the country producing 79.6 million litres of raw milk in 2021 while 2022 saw this figure rising to 91.31 million litres of raw milk.

The country’s raw milk production has reached 76% of the annual requirement, a giant step towards sustainable raw milk production.

The growth has been spurred by financing from government as well as other support to promote the growth of the dairy industry, according to Addmore Waniwa, an officer with the country's dairy services department.

A number of incentives, which include include the presidential and command silage schemes as well as subsidised semen through the Transforming Zimbabwe’s Dairy Value Chain for the Future project.

The industry in the country is facing a number of challenges, among them high production and processing expenses, lack of secure land tenure that banks can accept as collateral for loans, limited access to affordable finance and foreign currency, and high costs of compliance.

Although Zimbabwe has registered significant growth in milk production, the country has not been able to meet its monthly raw milk requirement, which stands at about 10 million litres, with imports covering the deficit.