Zimbabwe to miss milk output target

ZIMBABWE is likely to miss its 70 million litres milk production target for 2018 following a nine percent slump in output in the first quarter, an industry insider has said.
Anthony Mandiwanza, the chief executive of listed milk processor Dairibord Holdings, told The Financial Gazette that the sector had experienced a shrink over the years and milk output was going to be lower this year.
“The diary sector will show you that at peak in 1990/91, milk production was 260 million litres per annum. Last year, we did 67 million litres. This year, we will be lucky is we reach 70 million litres,” he said recently.
Mandiwanza said the dairy sector had continued to experience declines in output, in spite of an increase in the country’s population and demand.
“In 1990, the population was approximately eight million and today it has increased to about 14 million and yet, the milk production has dropped. This means demand and supply is not being matched,” he said.
Pointing out that the country was in need of strategic structural mechanisms to recover, Mandiwanza said players in the dairy sector were undertaking various initiatives to correct the situation.
“The milk supply issue…needs milk growth initiatives. There are strategic structural issues concerning how we can grow milk. We can either do that via the heifer projects, which is tactical, or the individual farmer,” he said.
“In 1990, the supply of milk at 260 million litres was from 197 000 dairy cows on the land. Now, we have 70 million litres and less than 32 000 cows on the land, so you need to look at what can be done to ensure the farmer can re-invest,” he said.
Official data from the Finance ministry’s Fiscal Policy and Advisory Services Department indicates that despite the nine percent year-on-year increase from 15,6 million litres recorded in the first three months of 2017, milk production had decreased in the first quarter of 2017.
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