Sharon Kavhu
Local milk production rose by 1,2 million litres in the first five months of the year owing to the decentralisation of the milk buying and selling system by Government, raising hopes the industry is now on the mend.

Official statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development show that cumulative milk production in the period January to May increased by 6 percent to 21,3 million litres compared to an estimated 20,1 million litres in the same period a year earlier.
Notably, for the month of May total milk production jumped to 4,4 million litres from 4,2 million litres a quarter earlier.

Dairy chief officer in the Ministry Mrs Tendai Marecha said Government’s policy to establish a free market system in the dairy industry had assisted farmers to resuscitate their dairy farming activities countrywide.
“Last year in May both retailers and wholesalers had their milk collected by National Diary Co-operative (NDC) and this economically strained the farmers.

“The monopoly of NDC resulted in many farmers not being liquid enough to maintain their dairy cattle and this resulted in their dairy cattle failing to produce enough milk.
“Through Government’s intervention in stamping out the monopoly of NDC last year, new retailers and wholesalers were licensed to buy directly from the farmers and this has seen the dairy production increasing by 5,45 percent,” said Mrs Marecha.

She said before dollarisation of the economy in 2009, dairy farming throughout the country had collapsed due to economic sanctions imposed on the country by the West and its allies.
“The decentralisation of the industry has led to the increase of milk production, especially from farmers who are now able to sell their milk and receive cash, allowing them to sustain farming activities in their various farms.

“With the old system, farmers would get their money after a fortnight or longer because the process involved one buyer, which was NDC.”
She also said milk production rose from 47 million litres in 2010 to 50,6 million in 2011.

At its peak dairy farming produced over 150 million litres of milk annually.
Currently, there are 223 registered dairy operators and an estimated herd of over 20 000.
Mrs Marecha said milk production was expected to increase by year-end.

“Despite the dry spell that hit the country, we have managed to secure enough stockfeed for the country’s dairy herd, hence milk production is set to increase,” she said.

Rising milk production has raised hopes that milk processors such as Nestlé and Dairibord Holdings Limited will, with time, be progressively weaned off dependence on imported milk.

Due to the huge gap in supply, processors have had to rely on imported powdered milk and reconstituting it back into liquid milk.
This process naturally prompted investment into reconstitution plants, which placed a toll on production.
Currently, private players as well as Government are actively working on the replenishment of the dairy herd in order to significantly boost milk production.

There are various schemes that have been hatched by various organisations in order to enable farmers to boost their dairy herd.