Milk production in Zimbabwe up 18 percent

The country’s raw milk production for the first four months of 2016 increased by over 18 percent to 21.2 million litres compared to 17.9 million litres over the same period in 2015.

Month on month production averaged five million litres up from four million litres in 2015.

According to latest figures from the Dairy Services Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, monthly average production in 2016 is up compared to same period in 2015 as the dairy schemes begin to contribute to volumes.

The statistics show that intake by processors in four months was at 18 738 347 litres while retailed milk was 2.475 million litres.

The dairy industry is operating at 45 percent capacity, with an estimated 223 registered dairy operators and a dairy herd of about 26 000 cows.

Government is currently working on a livestock policy to drive the industry towards efficiency of production as well as growing the capacities of small-scale dairy farmers.

In 1990, the country was producing over 256 million litres annually and exporting into the region and beyond before plummeting to an all-time low of 36 million litres in 2009.

In 2015,  Zimabwe produced 58 million litres of raw milk, up from 55 million litres in the previous year.-The Source

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