Umzingwane Dairy Centre in limbo
MILK deliveries at Umzingwane Dairy Centre in Matabeleland South have plunged by about 90 percent as farmers struggle to obtain optimum yields for processing at the community plant.
Umzingwane Dairy Centre, which is the brainchild of a grouping of communal farmers, Umzingwane Dairy Association is operating at its lowest ebb with only one member out of the 35 affiliates delivering milk at the processing plant due to the effects of drought.
“There has been a massive drop of milk units delivered at the Centre but we have been making concerted efforts to keep it in operation since we resumed operations in 2014. However, virtually all the members have since ceased delivering milk at the plant due to the effects of the drought,” said Mrs Sheila Lupuwana, the association’s chairperson.
The centre resumed operations two years ago after shutting down for two years after the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority had cut off power supplies after failure by the association to settle a $1 700 bill. The bill has gone down to $600. One of the members, a dairy farmer from Irrisvale village, Ms Mabel Ncube said there was a need for farmers to embark on fodder production to ensure that there are adequate pastures for their dairy cows.
“Most of us don’t have adequate milk to send to the centre at the moment. Most of the cows are also in calve. We are looking forward to setting up fodder crop plots thus we are appealing to organisations that can supply us with forage seeds for bana and velvet grass.
“We have since applied for sand abstraction at Sebi River through Umzingwane Rural District Council so that we harness water from there and we understand Zinwa (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) granted us permission to do. Thus we are appealing to organisations that are willing to assist us with equipment to draw the water to irrigate our fodder crops,” she said.
The only farmer, who is still delivering milk to the Centre, Mr Idon Dube acknowledged that lack of pastures was negatively affecting the dairy farmers from obtain optimum yields.
“Members are no longer delivering milk to the centre and I am only sending about 30 litres after three days, which I milk from one of my three cows because the other two are in calve,” he said.
The association intends to replace its obsolete milk processing plant and cold room it has been using since it started operating in 2001.
It is also looking forward to purchasing refrigerated trucks for collecting milk from milking points to the milk centre.