By Almot Maqolo.
HARARE – (News of The South) – Zimbabwe’s raw milk production in the first 2 months of 2020, increased by a marginal 2 percentage points to 12.90 million litres from 12.66 million litres recorded in the same period last year, official data sows.
Latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture’s dairy services department shows that milk intake by processors rose 2% to 11.69 million litres from 11.46 million litres in the comparative period. Retailed milk by producers increased marginally by 1% to 1.21 million litres from 1.20 million litres last year.
In February, raw milk production went up marginally by 1.97% to 6.07 million litres compared to 5.95 million litres recorded in the comparable last year. However, February output at 6.07 million litres, represents an 11% decline from January output of 6.83 million litres – largely due to improved rains and grazing pastures.
Milk production levels plummeted dramatically from the early 1990s peak of 260 million litres. However, since the introduction of the Dairy Revitalization Programme in 2014 milk production has been steadily improving.
Zimbabwe’s raw milk production growth is poised to drop to 6% due to the harsh operating environment.
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