Farmers call for ban on milk imports

Zimbabwe ‘s dairy farmers are calling on the government to take “drastic action” to boost local production and cut down on or ban foreign imports. More than 60% of milk imports come from South Africa, with Zimbabwean traders losing out on US$6 million worth of potential revenue said Daryl Archibald, director of local Zimbabwean milk producer, Dendairy. “Government has a duty to create an enabling environment for the dairy industry’s revival and curb the f looding of imported milk into our local market,” he said. He suggested a stiff import duty on milk imports as one of the measures to level the playing field. “At the moment Zimbabwean consumers are paying less for South African milk than they are for locally produced milk as it costs us more to produce the milk,” he commented. AllAfrica.com reported earlier this month that smallholder dairy farmers in the Mutasa Honda Valley had added their voice to that of the larger producers saying that the local dairy industry was currently operating at 45% capacity, producing only 51 million litres per annum to meet the local demand of 120 million litres. A lack of dairy cows is one of the reasons production is so low, Glen Folwell of the Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers told FTW. “The current national herd stands at 5.3 million heads of cattle, but only 0.05% of those are dairy cows,” he said. In a statement, the Zimbabwean minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Paddy Zhanda, said government would not put a blanket ban on milk imports but that it was working with stakeholders to find solutions to protecting local industry and boosting local production. CAPTION Zimbabwe only has 26 502 dairy cows but a herd of 70 000 is needed to produce enough milk for local demand.