The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE economy is slowly on the mend as evidenced by the dairy and rail transport sectors which recorded 12 and 13 percent growth respectively since the beginning of the year.
In an interview Dairy Revitalization Programme chairman Mr Cleopas Murenzi said the dairy sector has been on a steady growth with high hopes of continued upward trajectory in the coming months.
“We keep trying harder to make the industry grow, as of 2017 we had 66 million liters which is growth from 2016. Our hope is to get to 120 million liters per year. This is possible if we grow the national dairy head which had declined over the years. As of now production has gone up by about 12 percent,” he said.
He said drought has been a major problem that has affected the national herd which also affected the dairy sector.
National Railways of Zimbabwe spokesperson Mr Nyasha Maravanyika also said there has been a 13.5 percent increase in movement of cargo in the months from April to June.
He also said freight volumes also went up by 18.44 percent in March this year.
Former Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Busisa Moyo commended the growth adding that more sectors need to record double digit percentages for the country to start scoring economic gains.
“Congratulations to colleagues in the milk sector for growing volumes by 12 percent and the NRZ for growing by 13 percent. Double digit growth in output or throughput is quite a feat. When we say Zimbabwe needs higher productivity this is what we mean,” said Mr Moyo who is also the chief executive officer of United Refineries Limited.
He said Government must continue to work toward removing impediments that curtail growth of the economy.
