PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

HARARE, ZIMBABWE, April 16, 2021 – The European Union (EU) funded Transforming Zimbabwe’s Dairy Value Chain for the Future (TranZDVC) project will on 23 April 2021 hand over 147 in-calf heifers to 121 dairy farmers (59 women) in 18 districts from 10 provinces. We Effect Zimbabwe, along with its co-implementing partners; Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF), Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) and Zimbabwe Dairy Industry Trust (ZDIT) imported the in-calf heifers from South Africa.

The in-calf heifers landed in Zimbabwe at a cost of US$1,358 per animal. The imported Jersey and Friesen-Jersey crosses passed animal diseases tests for Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), Johne’s disease, Foot and Mouth, Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis.  

TranZDVC is part of an EU funded Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP), a response to tackle challenges within the country’s livestock sector through financial support from the EU amounting to €40 million.

ZAGP seeks to contribute to the development of a diversified and efficient agriculture sector that promotes inclusive green economic growth.

Covering Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces, the programme is addressing the weaknesses and gaps in livestock value chains that have hampered the sector from increasing productivity, production, and incomes to their potential. Focus is on increasing profitability, building the capacity of farmers, service institutions, and private sector through increased investment, institutional reforms and policy alignment.

“Started in 2019, TranZDVC is a four-year initiative targeting 4,000 small to medium-scale dairy farmers and larger anchor dairy farms and aims to address the root causes of the underperformance of the dairy value chain in Zimbabwe”, said Dr Edson Chifamba, the TranZDVC Project Coordinator.

Dr Chifamba added: “Through the importation of the in-calf heifers, TranZDVC will increase the production of milk in Zimbabwe from 75 million litres (in 2018) to 120 million litres (by 2022) per year and increasing the participation of small-scale farmers, especially women and youth, in the dairy value chain.’’

Zimbabwe’s dairy herd of 123,000 cows in 1990, at one point, produced more than 260 million litres of milk annually, but production declined over the years, with an estimated 39,000 dairy cows left. In 2020, the nation produced 76.7 million litres of milk against an annual demand of 130 million litres hence there is a deficit of more than 54 million litres.

To date, TranZDVC has assisted more than 33 smallholder farmers across 15 districts in 10 provinces to access 200 imported heifers on a 1:1 matching grant facility. The target is to procure 500 heifers with farmers matching with 500 heifers totalling 1,000 heifers during the life of the project. These additional 1000 heifers will contribute over 5.5 million litres of milk annually.

The first 200 heifers were distributed through processors who matched for their small-scale farmers – anyone producing less than 200 litres of milk per day. The 200 heifers were distributed to 33 beneficiaries (24 males and 9 females) through processors based on their 2018 milk intake and their work with small-scale farmers. These were Dairibord (70 heifers), Dendairy (50), Prodairy and Kelshemer (45), Kefalos (25) and Nestle, 10.

The last batch of 153 heifers will be distributed to 134 smallholder farmers (50 women) in May this year. The animals are being distributed directly to small-scale farmers as follows: 45% to existing small-scale farmers, 45% percent to new farmers aligned to processors and/integrators while 10 percent goes to green fields- new dairy farmers.

Over the two years, the project has reached more than 4000 smallholder farmers, 36 percent of whom are women. 

For additional information, please contact TranZDVC project coordinator, Dr Edson Chifamba, at [email protected]