Zimbabwe milk production hits 122M litres in 2025

ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe’s dairy sector recorded commercial raw milk production rising to 122 million litres in 2025, according to the Zimbabwe Economic Review.

Including non-commercial household production, total national output reached 128.8 million litres, placing the country within reach of milk self-sufficiency for the first time in decades.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Investment Promotion (MoFED, IP) has positioned the reforms as central to restoring agriculture’s role as the backbone of the economy, an anchor for 65 per cent of rural livelihoods and a major contributor to exports.

Rather than relying solely on subsidies, the reform package focused on cutting fixed costs, eliminating duplicative permits, and simplifying compliance, fundamentally altering the operating economics of dairy farming.

Environmental and utility compliance, previously a major cost burden for dairy farmers, was substantially reduced. Environmental Management Agency (EMA) effluent and waste disposal fees were slashed, environmental impact assessment charges were reduced and deferred to the operational phase, and water abstraction and groundwater permit fees were either scrapped or reduced to nominal levels.

These changes lowered recurring and upfront costs, particularly for dairy farms dependent on borehole water in water-stressed regions. By shifting environmental compliance from a punitive to an enabling framework, the reforms reduced entry barriers for new projects while maintaining regulatory oversight.

The abolition of energy- and effluent-related levies further eased cost pressures, directly improving farm-level profitability and freeing up cash for reinvestment in feed, herd health and productivity.

Reforms to farm and processor registration tackled another structural constraint the high cost of operating formally. Farm registration fees were reduced to symbolic levels, certificate fees for small and medium farmers were removed, and processor and feed manufacturing registrations were converted to low, once-off payments.

This approach lowered compliance costs while encouraging formal market participation, thereby improving access to structured markets, credit, and export channels. The result has been a broader production base and improved data visibility across the dairy value chain.

Livestock movement rules were simplified by removing duplicate permits and sharply reducing movement clearance fees, lowering transport costs and reducing administrative delays.

At the same time, import and export facilitation measures significantly reduced the cost of accessing improved livestock genetics and external markets.

Cheaper import permits for heifers, semen and bulls improved herd productivity prospects, while sharply reduced export registration fees improved the competitiveness of Zimbabwean dairy and meat products.

Other key initiatives include the Command Livestock Programme, launched in 2018, which distributed 660 heifers to 151 beneficiaries across Matabeleland South.

The Presidential Silage Programme (PSP), implemented through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ), has supported 1,338 farmers to improve feed security.

On the development finance side, the European Union-funded Transforming Zimbabwe’s Dairy Value Chain for the Future (TranZDVC) project mobilised and registered over 4,000 new dairy farmers between 2019 and 2022, while importing 500 in-calf heifers from South Africa between 2020 and 2021.

The project also strengthened genetic improvement by procuring 4,000 straws of sexed semen and 4,000 straws of conventional dairy semen, alongside expanded artificial insemination services to reduce inbreeding and improve productivity.

 Together, these changes improved market access, supply chain efficiency, and export readiness, reinforcing the sector’s growth momentum.

Milk production has risen steadily from 76.7 million litres in 2020 to 121.8 million litres in 2025, confirming that the recovery is no longer cyclical but structural.

According to the Dairy Services Unit, commercial output has expanded 85 per cent since 2017, surpassing levels last seen in the early 2000s.

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