Dairy farmers to benefit from Micromobilty Project-Kasalo

In an interview during the flagging off of the distribution of Buffalo bicycles in Lusaka recently, association Executive Manager Jeremiah Kasalo said the initiative by BMW to fund the project was timely as transportation of milk was a challenge for farmers due to lack of means of transport.

He said empowering the dairy farmers with bicycles would increase the supply of milk to the Milk Collection Centres (MCC) as all the milk would be delivered using the bicycles.

‘About 60% of the milk produced is not collected due to a number of reasons including lack of transport,’ he said.

He added that the micromobilty project which would be piloted in five MCCs including Chibombo, Fisenge, Mapepe, Palabana as well as Mutaba was an opportunity for dairy farmers to buy bicycles supplied by Buffalo Bicycles under a 6 month credit scheme to be recovered from the milk sales facilitated by the Digital Information Management System (DIMS) platform.

He said the 30000 Euro project catered for a total of 291 bicycles in the pilot stage and is expected to upscale once the pilot was successful.

He appealed to dairy farmers to be consistent in supplying milk to the MCCs as it was the only way they could benefit from the Buffalo Bicycle credit scheme.

Meanwhile, Buffalo Bicycle Zambia Limited country Director Brian Moonga has thanked the Dairy Association of Zambia for implementing the DIMS project.

He said with the DIMS platform in place, recoveries for the loan scheme would be guaranteed and the platform will serve as a tracking system to ensure no farmers default.

He urged the farmers to commit themselves to making the pilot project successful as it would be used as a test case for more projects.

And Patricia Muyunda, a dairy farmer from Mapepe Dairy Cooperative in Chilanga District and a beneficiary of the bicycles thanked DAZ for facilitating the loan scheme adding that delivery of milk to the MCC would be assured as the bicycles would aid in transportation.

She appealed to women across the country to venture into dairy business as it was a lucrative business and would support their families.

Speaking during the launch of the Second National Cassava Strategy held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre recently, Minister of Agriculture Michael Katambo said cassava was among the climate smart crops that tolerated extremely stressful conditions such as drought, soil acidity as well as low soil 28 . The Dairy . July - August 2020 fertility.

‘Those of you who may have already come across the production statistics from the lasted crop forecast survey will have noticed that production of cassava flour equivalent has increased to 10028,719 metric tonnes from 1009,146 metric tonnes in the previous season,’ he said.

He said the current production levels were an indication that the cassava industry was moving in the right direction adding that an

industrialised cassava industry would soon be seen in the country.

He noted that he was pleased that the strategy incorporated the vision of his excellency the President Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu of seeing the cassava crop driving the rural development and improving incomes for producers, processors and traders in the country.

He however noted that his ministry was aware of the challenges the cassava industry was facing including lack of an organised platform for industry players to dialog, the inability of the supply to meet the demand due to low production and failure of the small scale farmers to belong to organised groupings that would allow for aggregation of produce to facilitate marketing and better prices among others.

He assured cassava growers of government support through the strategy developed.

Meanwhile, Zambia National Cassava Association (Zanaca) President Brighton Mulonga has called on dairy farmers in the country to use cassava as feed for their animals to reduce their cost of production.

Speaking at the same function, Mr Mulonga said cassava was easy to grow with low production costs, can grow even in extreme weather conditions and had nutrients essential for both human and animal health.

He said his organisation was in liaison with the Dairy Association of Zambia to establish areas of collaboration for the benefit of members of both organisations.

He thanked Government for recognising the cassava industry as a key industry to household and national food security.

The most important metabolic diseases in dairy cows, can be categorised as energy related, lipid related or vitamin and mineral related disorders. Metabolic disorders are extremely costly to dairy farmers. Studies have shown that 25% of dairy cows within the first 65 days into lactation will often develop one or more metabolic issue.

Metabolic problems usually occur together with other diseases which are opportunistic in nature. It is clear that the overall cost of the metabolic disorders is certainly greater than the direct loss of income from reduced milk production and poses costly challenges for dairy farmers.

Beyond losses in milk production, the residual losses add up in the form of for example deaths and open days.

The risk of metabolic disorders occurring in dairy herd can be reduced through best management practices, particularly during the dry and transition periods.

Research has shown that nutrition is important in resolving metabolic disorders. A holistic approach to management of metabolic disorders improves the efficiency of the milking cows including nutritional, animal welfare and environmental management.

Nevertheless, many farmers focus on nutrition as an individual strategy for the dairy cows in the transition period. The importance of a balanced ration at any stage of production is well-accepted, but there are specific practices that can contribute to metabolic health.

Management practices such as the common grazing systems used by the emerging dairy farmers can be attributed to the increasing incidences of metabolic disorders.

In both the dry and wet seasons, common grazing systems used by emerging farmers are herded and free grazing. Emerging farmers use mostly paddocks and free grazing. The only grazing system that is influenced by season is the yard system.

Majority farmers use this system in the wet season, indicating that farmers let the animals graze when forage is available.

Animals are only supplemented in the yard system close to home when forage is scarce.

This therefore results in drop in milk produc-

tion in the dry seasons.

Maintaining access to adequate quantity and quality of feed resource is crucial for milk production in dairy farming. There is need, therefore to evaluate the feed management among the smallholder dairy farmers in order to improve feed availability for dairy cattle.

Likewise, there is need to understand the coping strategies that farmers adopt in order to develop targeted interventions to bridge feed scarcity during the dry season and maintain animal productivity.

Dairy cattle feeds for many emerging farmers are based on natural pastures, homegrown fodder, and crop residues. The natural pastures are mainly fed during the wet seasons and majority of farmers use them.

However, research has shown that natural pastures management is usually a challenge and hence feeding during the dry season is problematic. Usually, at this stage of growth, the quality is poor with few proportion of green leaves compared with the dry leaves.

Maize stover are reported as the common crop residue and the main livestock feed during the peak of long dry season. Although stovers are important sources of roughage, they have low nutrition values and do not provide adequate nutrients required for milk production.

Consequently, animals fed on maize stover would require supplements of higher nutritive value. Also, the poor storage methods practiced by farmers subject the crop residues to sunlight resulting in further drop of quality. Dairy meal is the principal commercial supplement offered to dairy cattle.

It is available at a cost from livestock feed stores located within several rural-urban centres countrywide and is normally offered to lactating cows during milking time. Farmers can offer feed supplements to their lactating cows twice a day usually in the morning and afternoon during milking time.

To produce optimum quantity of good milk, a dairy cow’s diet should not just contain grain and forage but should contain a balanced diet, including energy, quality concentrates, protein, vitamins and minerals and plenty of clean water.

When feeding dairy cows, a mix of half daily rations of dry feeds and half of fresh fodder are sufficient for their energy needs. Fresh fodders are mainly green forages such as Napier grass, Lucerne and sweet potato vines among others. They usually contain a lot of water. A dairy cow should be given 15-20 kg of chopped forage per day, preferably in two splits; one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Dry feeds include materials such as Wheat Straw, Rice Straw, Maize Stover and other vegetable by products.

They are best fed by first soaking in water or molasses in case of straw and also of poor quality hay. Mix one part of fresh fodder with one part of dry fodder e.g. 1 sack of chopped

Napier plus 1 sack of chopped maize stover. Dairy meal will provide the cow with vitamins, energy and protein in a balanced way, so that the cow produces good milk and keeps a healthy body weight. Supplementing dairy cows with minerals definitely improves the health of the animals. The cows will come on heat 60 days after calving and therefore making it easy to achieve a calf a year. Minerals are also good for milk production and body condition.

Dairy cows need large quantities of water in order for them to produce milk optimally. The farmer will need to provide the cows with plenty of clean water every day. Each dairy cow requires about 180 litres of water per day. Adequate provision of water does prevent disease incidences in dairy cattle.

One of the most important aspects of dairy farm management is the capacity to think and plan ahead. The dairy farmer must be able to visualise and plan for the number of tons of maize or Lucerne required for his herd in the following year.

Herd health programs, as recommended by the veterinarian, must include a way to avoid metabolic disorders and prevent or control infectious disease. Frequently when metabolic disease increases, opportunistic infectious July - August 2020 disease also increases. . The Dairy . 31