Dairy Association demands fair pricing

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
@SunZambian
THERE should be fair pricing between milk producers and processors to ensure stable cash-flow during the Covid-19 period, says the Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) Board Chairperson, Miriam Mbazima.
Ms Mbazima said it was unfortunate that while some processors were proactive, others were being reactive
“Milk is a vital food so it has to be affordable. But when you look at the prices in super markets are about six times than what the farmers get, so we want a win-win situation between a processor and a farmer.
“We need a fair price for the producers, some processors are proactive but some have tended to be reactive. I am not only speaking for small holders farmers, I am also speaking for the commercial farmers, and they are still struggling,” she said in an interview.
Ms Mbazima, however, mentioned that milk prices were recently revised by some prices.
She complained that the prices were still not adequate considering the costs involved in producing and deliver-ing the milk to the centres.
Previously, prices ranged from K3.80 per litre of raw milk to around K4.50 before being revised to around K5 per litre.
“With these prices, there is some hope that there can be a fresh start but we can never get back to where we were. Some farmers have given up completely because they were unable to recover from their loss,” Ms Mba-zima said.
She also said lack of adequate cash-flow had resulted in most dairy farmers failing to replace their old animals for continued milk production.
“This has gone as far as failure to replace their animals, a dairy farmer replaces their animals at least once a year, and they replace old ones to remain in business.
“We had challenges of where to import these animals because the borders had to close and locally, there was not enough to cushion the demand,” Ms Mbazima said.