By Kuda Pembere
More than 120,000 litres of milk intended for export were rejected by mid-2025, a sharp rise from 39,000 litres in the previous year. The increase has been attributed to high traces of antibiotics and adulteration, particularly the addition of water.
This was revealed by Dr. Lawrance Dengenya, Director of Veterinary and Technical Services in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, during the 11th Annual General Meeting of the Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers (ZADF), held recently.
Trade facilitation is one of our mainstays, and we can safely say that the dairy products are being exported throughout the region, including Botswana, Malawi and Zambia,” he said.
“We are exporting quite a lot of dairy products and we are hoping also to be continually improving the quantities that we export. However, I was looking at the dairy production figures, and it is sad to note that this year alone we have rejected 120,000 litres of milk. Well, we don’t know whether that figure is high or not, but I can tell you that last year it was only 39,000,” he said.
Dr. Dengenya said it was vital for farmers and stakeholders to devise a strategy to reduce milk rejection rates.
“So, we have almost tripled the rate and that’s so sad. And I think as farmers, if we are going to calculate economically and financially how much is lost by the value of milk, number one, and also by the value of the retail milk, we must say that we need to come up with strategies of reducing the milk rejection rate.
“Because at the end of the day, we have to eliminate waste. This is a big loss, and we need to find strategies to make sure that we eliminate that.”
He cited the main reasons for contamination and rejection as the presence of antibiotics and possible adulteration.
“The reasons being mentioned for those contamination or rejection cases is mainly use of antibiotics. We might need to analyse our tests that we do. Is the test very sensitive, effective enough to analyse?
“Are we using a harmonised way of testing? Do we have a secondary test that we need to do to confirm whether the antibiotics are high or not? Which drugs are being used or not?
“And also the issue of adulteration, which I would want to believe all farmers, we are not using, we are not adding water into our milk, I hope,” said Dr. Dengenya. “But let’s make sure that we come up with a milk rejection reduction strategy as a country.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has begun manufacturing the local BOLVAC vaccine to combat Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), which remains a persistent threat to livestock, particularly dairy herds.
“As we are aware, the current livestock disease situation which is topical currently is Foot and Mouth Disease, but the good thing is the department is planning, and it’s well planned and organised that we are going to have a lot of vaccines available to vaccinate cattle around the outbreak areas.
“And also for dairy farmers, it will remain like that. We will ringfence some FMD vaccines specifically for dairy farmers, and that is going to remain.
“We will try and make sure that the dairy value chain is not affected because it is so sensitive to Foot and Mouth Disease. The other situation that we have is January disease.
