The Sunday News
Shepias Dube Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has mandated Matopos Research Station to spearhead artificial insemination (AI) of dairy cows as part of national efforts to boost milk production, an official has said.
In an interview on Thursday, Matopos Research Station head Mr Shadreck Ncube said a bigger dairy head would increase milk production which stands at 55 million litres annually against a national demand of $160 million every year.
“There is a significant shortfall in the production of milk in the country and I can confirm that Matopos, as one of the biggest research stations in the country, has been mandated to produce cross breed dairy cattle for small holder farmers in the region,” said Mr Ncube.
He said the project’s immediate target was to make Zimbabwe self-sufficient in milk and milk products.
The institution works with dairy farmers in Umzingwane, Irisvale and Shurugwi where it is assisting four Milk Collection Centres (MCC).
He said the artificial insemination involved the Jersey or Red Dane bull and the local Thuli cow.
Mr Ncube said they were targeting to have inseminated about 100 cattle before the end of the year.
“Right now there are 80 cattle which are already pregnant and we expect to get to 100 by the end of the year,” he said.
He said they decided to produce a dairy cross breed after realising that local farmers were struggling to manage pure breeds which needed maximum care and expensive feed.
“The cross breed is adaptable to the harsh conditions in the small sector and can survive under harsh conditions as opposed to pure exotic dairy breeds. The basis of crossbreeding is to take advantage of the hardiness in the indigenous cows as well as the milk traits from the Jersey or Red Dane bull,” Mr Ncube said.
He said the crossbreed would also give more milk than the indigenous breeds milked by smallholder farmers.
The cross breed produced at Matopos can produce up to 10 litres of milk a day.
This is more than double what the traditional Thuli cow can produce.
The institution is working in partnership with the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) which is providing about 70 percent funding for the project.
“As we are talking we have a group of farmers we are training in Artificial Insemination, courtesy of SNV.”
The Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust (ZDIT) is also supporting the programme.
However, Mr Ncube said the institution was facing serious problems which were hindering progress.
He said these include shortage of skilled manpower to do the artificial insemination in the smallholder sector, and low quality feed resulting in low productivity.
