Sunnyside dairy project starts production

Pauline Dikuelo | Friday March 10, 2017 15:33

Currently, the national milk demand is estimated at 65 million litres annually with cow productivity currently at 13 litres per cow in a day. As part of efforts to reduce dependency on imports, Government in 2015 leased the dairy farm to a South African- based couple, Rob and Erica Ter Hofte on a 15-year lease. 

In an interview with BusinessWeek, the principal agricultural information and public relations officer in the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security, Geoffrey Pheko said the total herd on the farm is currently 682 producing an average of 2.4 million litres of milk per annum.

However, Pheko noted that to date no local farmers have been given training by the South African investors at Sunnyside although a number of farmers have visited the farm to benchmark on farming practices. He said the farmer-training component of the lease agreement has been delayed due to the need to expand the farm.

According to Pheko, once the expansion is complete, the exercise will begin and training will be offered to both farmers and the extension officers.

“Training will include inter alia, practical training on milking, hygiene, feeding, breeding, health and demonstration of technologies. The facility has the capacity to accommodate 40 trainees per annum,” he said.

The investors have occupied the Sunnyside farm since March 2015 and have imported a total of 405 dairy cows from South Africa. Developments undertaken at the farm include construction of a cow shed with a capacity of 200 animals, drilling of four boreholes, extension of the farm to accommodate more cattle and erection of an electric perimeter fence. According to Pheko, by the end of December 2016, a total of 4,550,435 litres of milk was produced locally from 1,276 milking cows from various farms across the country.

“There is still however a significant deficit in domestic milk production as the national milk demand is estimated to be 65 million litres annually. Cow productivity currently stands at 13 litres per cow per day,” he said. To address the shortage of dairy cattle, Pheko said the Ministry introduced dairy female-sexed semen for sale to farmers. He said farmers have reported success rates as high as 93% of female calves born from the sexed semen.

In addition he said the Ministry continues to promote both domestic and foreign direct investment in the dairy sub sector through facilitation for resources such as land and finance.

“The Ministry is promoting fodder production for livestock by offering a 50% subsidy on the cost of purchasing seedlings for Napier grass and salt bush,” he said.