Milk production increase

Milk production rose 11.4 percent to 23 913 223 litres in the first quarter of 2023 comparable to 21 464 846 litres in the same period in 2022, information from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development show.

This is in direct response to deliberate Government and private sector initiatives in upscaling milk productivity levels and expansion of the dairy herd.

Under the Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan, milk production is intended to rise from the obtaining annual production of 79,9 million litres to 150 million litres, and increase the dairy herd to 60 000 by 2025.

The Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan is part of the Agriculture Food Systems Transformation Strategy that seeks to achieve an US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025 to ensure attainment of Vision 2030.

The dairy sub-sector is a priority agricultural value chain with a potential to cluster producers especially small-scale milk producers to enable and break entry barriers into the lucrative venture.-chronicle.cl.zw