He takes small but cautious strides making sure he does not spill the milk he is carrying in his small black pot. He has just milked one of his three cows left for him by his former white employer. As he walks his mind goes back and forth on what to do next as the amount of milk coming out of his cow continue to dwindle each passing day.
He has two wives with eight school going children. Exactly 12 years ago Sabau never dreamt that one day he would have to share such little milk with his two wives and children. His former employer was a successful dairy farmer with over 200 cattle. Each employee would get 5 litres of milk every day. However, Sabau who was the foreman got double the amount of milk.
All that is left of the once flourishing dairy farming activity is Sabau, three cows and two rusty milk tanks lying near the Sabaus kraal. The inscription Mayview Dairy Farm is still visible marked on one of the tanks. The new farmer who took over the farm is into maize farming.
Land reforms
The status quo at this farm is not an isolated phenomenon as the chaotic implementation of the land reform exercise saw most productive farms being reduced to ruins as the new owners lacked basic knowledge and financial resources to run the farming operations. Dairy farms were the worst affected as evidenced by the growing shortages of milk and related products on the local market and the high prices being charged. Dairy farming has not picked up ever since the land invasions, despite government hastily setting up dairy farming cooperatives to boost production.
Inadequate knowledge, financial constraints and lack of marketing strategies have been some of the factors that have hindered the new farmers to improve dairy farming in the country. The few new farmers who have entered the dairy sector have suffered enormous losses of cattle through deaths caused by various diseases. The farmers have not been able to get the required veterinary services due to shortage of resources. Some of these farmers have since quit dairy farming and have turned to growing traditional crops such as maize.
Farai Mambo, an aspiring dairy farmer in the Beatrice area with 10 dairy cattle producing a daily average of 30 litres of milk, lamented the lack of support in the sector from both the government and the financial services sector. “I can increase output but look this is a capital intensive initiative. We need money to invest in relevant technology so that we are able to penetrate the market. Here I end up selling milk to private people who come here” said Mambo.
Challenges
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union President, Wilson Nyabonda, confirmed dairy farming was facing challenges such as lack of financial resources, commitment from farmers and clear cut government policy. Nyabonda said while the sector had shown some growth in the last 18 months in terms of an increase in milk production levels, the sector was still far from recovering.
“We have 200 (new) dairy farmers dotted in the country and they produce 60 000 litres a month. To realise much from the sector we definitely need to come up with a National Dairy Policy which will then spearhead the setting up of farming units around major urban centres as these are the major consumers of milk.” said Nyabonda. It is estimated that Zimbabwe currently produces about 3,7 million litres of milk per month, a figure which is considered well below market demand which is about an average of 5,5 million litres per month. This is down from 22 million litres a month which the country used to produce in the 1990s.
Nyabonda said the most successful dairy farming projects were in the Manicaland Province adding that there was need to set up units within the proximity of urban centres. He also revealed that the two major dairy companies in the country, Dairiboard Zimbabwe and Nestle Zimbabwe had come to the rescue of new dairy farmers through provision of technical, machinery and financial support. He said the sector had a lot to learn from the tobacco industry.
He said tobacco production slumped in the first years following the implementation of the land reforms but a concerted approach supported by the involvement of tobacco companies had seen the sector experiencing improved production levels in the 2009-2010 farming season with the 2010-2011 agricultural seasons also expected to record another improvement.
Post published in: News