April 5, 2010

Zimbabwe's dairy industry in decline

The dairy industry in Zimbabwe is facing collapse due to drought and farmers' inability to breed more cows, said Dairibord Holdings Limited group's CEO, Anthony Mandiwanza.

"We had a 192,000 dairy herd in 1991, but we now have less than 22,000 countrywide. Farmers who are supplying Dairibord with milk are now 60 from 215 in 2000," according to Mandiwanza.
 

The company was operating at 25% production capacity partly because of the ravaging drought experienced in 1991 which claimed a significant number of cattle, said Mandiwanza, adding that the dairy sector was capital intensive and it took up to about five years to grow a herd.

Dairibord had leased four private farms, centralising producer price, animal husbandry, and quality control, all of which give the firm direct involvement in Zimbabwe towns Chipinge and Shamva.

However the government's acquisition of the farms under land reform had impacted the company's production capacity, Mandiwanza explained, adding that the government was supposed to address the security of tenure on farms, which is an important factor for corporate participation in the industry.

There had also been a reduction in the production of milk where the number of milk farmers had dropped from 314 in 2000 to 250 today, according to Dairibord's managing director, Thompson Mabika.

Reasons for the declining dairy industry include lack of funding, high utility bills, power cuts, high input costs, intense competition from cheap imports, as well as lack of disposable income on the part of consumers.