ZDTP Regional Extension Officer Wesley Chilambe travelled to the Northern part of Zambia in August 2022 to share his knowledge with members of three existing farming cooperatives in the Northern and Muchinga Provinces.
His visit was in line with ZDTP efforts to expand the delivery of dairy extension services in Zambia beyond the Copperbelt and Central Provinces.
“Farmers in Mpika requested information about Artificial Insemination (AI) Services and we thought it would be a good time to visit Kasama and Mbala as well and introduce the ZDTP,” says Wesley.
Livestock farming has been minimal in the Northern part of Zambia for many years. The main farming activity is crop production. The Government of Zambia and other organisations tried to take dairy animals there previously; however, it did not work out.
In more recent years, farmers from Northern Province have realised they can do livestock production as well as crop production. Recently, the Government of Zambia gave community members some dairy animals and they started rearing them.
During his visit, Wesley met with Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MFL) coordinators, Milk Collection Centre (MCC) board members and some farmers. So far, the MCCs and cooperative members have been working alone – apart from occasional support from MFL officers.
“All said they would welcome ZDTP support on topics including co-operative governance, breeding (AI), animal nutrition, animal health, milk hygiene, fodder crop production and other topics.”
There are no commercial milk processors around Mpika, Kasama and Mbala; however, the MCCs already have modern processing plants (donated by MFL with support from donors), with good machinery to process milk.
They are currently making lacto (fermented milk), ice cream, yogurt and pasteurized milk and selling the products locally.
ZDTP Field Extension Manager Kelvin Mulusa says the northern part of Zambia has huge potential for dairy farming “due to its unadulterated natural resources such as vast vegetative lands and water bodies running across the region”.
In all three districts visited by Wesley (Mpika, Kasama and Mbala), the ZDTP has trained ‘Trainers of Trainers’ who are now part of a Community of Practice in the dairy sector being promoted as the ‘Champions of Change’.
Kelvin says better farm and animal management will result in bigger herd sizes and, in turn, more milk production. At present, the amount being produced by farmers in the north does not justify transportation costs for processors.
“From the ZDTP’s interactions with milk processors, we get the understanding that there is need for more milk to achieve full production capacity.
“The interest coming from the north is encouraging and we are looking forward to supporting farmers there.
“Going forward, I think there is need for impactful extension services and activities to ensure that donated animals and other inputs are taken good care of.
“This can only be done collaboratively with other actors such as MFL, other dairy programmes and community empowerment programmes.”