The country’s dairy industry produced 57.2 million litres of milk in the first half of 2025, up from 55.1 million litres during same period last year.
A new report by the National Competitiveness Commission says dairy growth is held back by costs, heavy regulation and taxes.
Farmers pay a levy of US$0.01 per litre and need at least 26 permits to operate.
Stockfeed is the biggest cost for dairy farmers.
Zimbabwe’s milk production, by the numbers:
In the first quarter of 2025, Dairibord bought 9.95 million litres of raw milk from dairy farmers, 8% more than Q1 last year. In 2024, Dairibord bought 42.2 million litres, an increase of 49%. Dairibord buys 37% of all raw milk.
Zimbabwe produced 114.7m litres of milk in 2024. This was 15% up from 2023, but still short of national demand of 120-140m litres per year. At its peak, Zim annual milk production was over 260m litres.
This dropped to as low as 37m litres in 2009 as herds fell, before the current recovery.
Due to high production costs, Zim dairy farmers charge an average of 63 US cents per litre—well above regional averages: SA (40c), Malawi (26c), and Zambia (40c).
Zwnews
