The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo Senior Farming Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Dairy Services (ZDS) says milk volumes in Matabeleland region were likely to increase due to the Dairy Revitalisation Programme being carried out by the Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust. ZDS Matabeleland region co-ordinator Mr Kasirayi Gwezuva said ZDIT was implementing a number of initiatives such as artificial insemination and distribution of high yielding cow breeds to improve production.
“We are looking forward to increased milk volumes mostly due to the impact of the Dairy Revitalisation programme which is twofold. Firstly it’s the breeding component whereby we are trying to improve dairy breeds through artificial insemination.
“The programme also comes in with the component of improving the herd numbers. This will entail purchasing of better breeds locally or from neighbouring South Africa and then distribute those heifers or in-calf cows to farmers so as to capacitate their dairy herds,” he said.
The artificial insemination exercise entails the distribution of full artificial insemination kits and training of livestock extension officers to carry out the exercise.
“We strongly feel it might go a long way in improving the dairy industry in the region and the country as a whole because there is involvement of livestock extension workers,” Mr Gwezuva said.
The region produces an average of 400 000 litres a month and an annual output of about 5 000 000 litres.
Industry statistics reveals that Zimbabwe’s dairy cow herd currently stands at 26 000, down from a peak of 119 200 in the 1990s.
This has resulted in low milk production in the country — local raw milk production is 4,5 million litres per month against estimated national demand of slightly over 8,1 million litres per month.
ZDIT is an organisation comprising dairy farmers, milk processors and Government agricultural departments. The organisation realises its funds through levies paid by players in the dairy industry as well as a specific levy obtained from companies importing Ultra-High-Temperature milk.
Mr Gwezuva said there had been a drastic improvement on issues to do with hygiene in the dairy sector.
“Hygiene-wise there has been an improvement with a reduction in terms of somatic cell counts largely due to the Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) 300 000 campaign which was spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Dairy Farmers Association that was meant to identify problematic cows in terms of diseases and have them treated or culled.
“Initially we used to have SCC of 800 000 to 900 000 per millilitre but now we are averaging 500 000 per ml so it’s quite a remarkable feat considering where we are coming from. The Total Bacteria Counts have also dropped with most averaging around 50 000 from 100 000 per ml,” he said.
SCC is an indicator of the quality of milk. White blood cells known as leukocytes constitute the majority of somatic cells in question. The number of somatic cells increases in response to pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, a cause of mastitis. The SCC is quantified as cells per ml. General agreement rests on the values of less than 100 000 cells per ml for uninfected cows and greater than 250 000 for cows infected with significant pathogens.
