Lovemore Zigara, Midlands Correspondent
KWEKWE-based milk processor Dendairy has recorded a steady growth in milk supply over the past six months spurred by the growth of the dairy herd in the country.
This comes after the country facilitated the importation of dairy cows to boost the national herd under the Dairy Revitalisation Programme targeting small scale dairy producers. Managing director, Mr Darren Coetzee, told Business Chronicle that the dairy processor was now operating at 70 percent capacity owing to a significant growth in milk deliveries.
“There has been a significant growth in milk deliveries, which can be attributed to the increase in the national herd following the capacitating of small-scale dairy farmers. I do not have the figures with me right now but we have pushed our capacity utilisation to about 70 percent,” said Mr Coetzee.
Dendairy has the capacity to process between four to six million litres of milk per month, which is about 70 percent of the country’s dairy requirements.
This follows the commissioning of a $3.5 million Tetra Pak plant, a packaging machine for aseptic production of dairy products last year.
The Tetra Pak plant packages germ-free products such as long life shelf milk and 100 percent fruit juices in a disinfected container in a way that maintains sterility.
However, Mr Coetzee said shortage of foreign currency has resulted in the company failing to access packaging materials for its Tetra Pak products, which is imported from Europe.
“We are failing to get adequate funding from the Reserve Bank (of Zimbabwe) for the procurement of our materials. We are only getting a third of the funding, which we are supposed to have for our needs, which totals about $1.5 million. This puts us in a tight corner as it is very difficult to explain to our suppliers the challenges we are facing,” added Mr Coetzee.
In 2013 Dendairy made an initial $6 million investment into its first Tetra Pak plant, which saw the company becoming the first dairy processor to introduce long life shelf milk on to the market.
A year later, the company commissioned two Tetra Pak plants, which produce 100ml and 200ml milk sachets for long life shelf milk as the Kwekwe-based milk processor aimed at breaking into the hospitality sector where demand for milk packaged in small quantities is high.
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