Dairy Farming on the rebound

By Ndafadza Madanha

SMALL scale farmers are leading the revival of the dairy sector in the country which has been struggling since the turn of the millennium.

The development come amid revelations that the local dairy farming sector has collaborated with a Fortune 500 company, Land O’ Lakes and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In a statement, Land O’ Lakes Chief of Party for Zimbabwe, Spencer Ngoma hinted that the collaboration between local famers and his organization dates back to 2010 and has been recording tremendous growth ever since.

“The project has been very successful from the time we started our volumes have increased by over a 1000 percent. We have bought over 425 in calf dairy heifers and distributed them to small scale farmers located in 21 Milk Collection Centers.

“Since the project began in 2010 they have recorded tremendous success and small scale farmers have the potential to anchor the revival of the dairy sector,” said Ngoma.

Land O’ Lakes was founded in the United States of America (USA) and has an annual turnover of over US$15 billion. The organization has satellite offices in Southern and East Africa.

Under the programme funded to the tune of US$5,8 million to date by USAID, Land O’ Lakes has provided in calf heifers to small scale farmers who have recorded phenomenal success and changed the economic landscape in rural Zimbabwe.

The programme has benefited over 1200 small scale dairy farmers and resuscitated over 20 Milk Collection Centres (MCCs) across the length and breadth of the country.

Some of the collection centres include Gokwe (Midlands), Sadza (Mash East), Sangano (Makoni) and Tsonzo and Hauna (Mutasa - Manicaland) and Umzingwane (Matebeleland). Ngoma attributed the success of the project to the business model they have adopted which has seen the project training dairy farmers to run their enterprises on professional lines.

“The project is run on a business model and intensive training that is given to the beneficiaries. Land O’ Lakes has also assisted some of the MCCs process some of their surplus milk so as to remain viable and also creating employment for the community.

“The MCCs produce yoghurt and sour milk which find their way to the local market. Other collection centers are linked to large dairy processors who provide a constant and ready market for the farmers,” added Ngoma.

Research carried by a local stock broking firm revealed that the dairy sector small processing plants are sometimes more profitable than large operations.

“The processing plants in the globalized environment are not always scale-dependent and small operations may be more economically efficient than larger plants, encouraging the participation of smaller enterprises in niche markets,” read the report.

At its peak, the dairy sector produced over 250 million liters of milk but the figure has tumbled to 56 million liters in 2012 against a national demand of 92 million liters.

The national dairy herd has also tumbled from 197 000 at its peak to the 26 000 in 2012 while dairy commercial farmers decreased from 500 to 100. The deficit has resulted in the country importing milk from South Africa which has affected the local producer.

“Our milk producer is higher than that of South Africa and this has adversely affected the competitiveness of locally produced milk. This now requires us to bring down the cost of production so that we can withstand the competition,” added Ngoma.

However, the sector has been gradually showing signs of recovery with Finance minister, Tendai Biti forecasting a four percent growth in lactating cows in 2013.

 Despite the limited production of milk, milk consumption per capita in Zimbabwe is still very low, estimated to be between  seven  to eight liters per person per annum,  indicative of the potential the industry has if compared with other regional countries like Botswana and South Africa who consume between 37 and 79 liters per person per annum.

 Small scale dairy farmers currently produce between two -three percent of national milk output and Ngoma believes with support from government the figure could be higher.

“Government has supported in extension services (Livestock Production and Veterinary services but we are not fully getting the recognition we need. Tobacco has received substantial support but the revenue is seasonal while dairy is constant.

We need government to come in so that we improve our genetics and help reduce the cost of stock feed,” said Ngoma.