Milk production and profitability of the various smallholder dairying models used in Zimbabwe

Abstract An evaluation of milk yield, dairy products and profitability of the smallholder dairy production models used in Zimbabwe was carried out. We used secondary data on 1167 smallholder dairy farmers. These were categorised into commercial dairying (119), Milk collection centre (MCC) bulking and processing (145), MCC bulking and delivering to processor (87), farm gate (468) and other (348) models. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25.0. Average daily and monthly milk yields were highest (P < 0.05) in the commercial dairying model, at 209 L and 6270 L, respectively. The average milk yield per cow were 8.92 ± 1.0 L, 8.90 ± 0.9 L, 5.91 ± 1.2 L, 3.93 ± 0.5 L and 2.00 ± 0.6 L in the Commercial dairying, MCC bulking and processing, MCC bulking and delivering to processor, farm gate and other models, respectively. Fermented milk was produced in the largest volumes across all the models compared to the rest of the dairy products. Highest volumes of fermented milk were recorded in the farm gate (93.95 ± 13.6 l) followed by MCC bulking and processing (54.14 ± 24.5 l), and commercial dairying (45.8 ± 27.0 l) models. The commercial dairying model was the most profitable with a gross margin of $1539 ± 390. The rest of the dairying models, except for the farm gate model recorded losses. The commercial dairying model surpassed all models on herd size, milk production and gross margin, therefore, we recommend that smallholder dairy farmers practising other models transform into this model.