By Marnix Sanderse
Agribusiness has always been my passion, coming from a country (The Netherlands) that is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. What is exciting about the dairy sector in Zambia is that it offers a daily income and has the ability to quickly transform the lives of Zambians in rural areas. I have been a big supporter of the ZDTP since the programme started in 2017 and I now want to do my part in continuing the transformation that ZDTP triggered.
It gives me great joy to re-engage with farmers and other advocates of the dairy sector whom I got to know years back, through my role leading the Zambia office of Agriterra, and to meet new inspiring people who are as excited as me to help push forward sustainable and inclusive growth in the sector to benefit the incomes of all dairy farmers alike.
What I like about the ZDTP is the highly practical and business-oriented approach towards dairy farming. It is really about giving dairy farmers the knowledge and tools to make more money from their farming businesses. Real Time Monitoring (RTM), silage making, demo plots, sustainable business models and other tools introduced by the programme are creating tangible results that farmers are feeling in their pockets. They are also helping farmers become more resilient to climate change. In addition, it is great to see farmers who have been quick to adopt ZDTP best practices help their fellow farmers to do the same.
Another important angle of the ZDTP that I appreciate is the support towards sector policies that will create a stable, enabling environment for dairy farmers to thrive. Good relations with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock are an essential part in ensuring that whatever work is done remains embedded in the local context beyond the end of the programme.
The two-year extension of the ZDTP is all about engaging industry members to take up and continue the work that we have done in a sustainable way. After five years of supporting farmers directly, our aim is to embed best practices and sustainable business models into the wider dairy industry by facilitating collaboration between cooperatives, processors, input suppliers, financial institutions and the Government.
We will be reaching out to different industry members across the Government, private and non-profit sectors to encourage them to work with ZDTP and as a collective so that we will have more impact as a whole. Everyone will need to make an investment in collaborative dairy networks that serve the common interest of growing the dairy industry. By better understanding each other, more trust will be built that will provide a foundation for sustainable relations that will continue to exist until after the ZDTP has ended.
I look forward to helping to build these relations in the coming 18 months.