ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF MILK-PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN BOTSWANA

Botswana imports approximately 75% of its milk requirement. These impo rts are mainly from the Republic of South Africa and Zimbabwe and an i ncrease in milk production has been government's concern. However ther e has not been a study on the efficiency and profitability of milk pro duction in this country. The purpose of the study was therefore to qua ntitatively assess the levels of milk production under the two milking systems of machine and hand milking. Primary data from 8 dairy farms around Gaborone and Lobatse for the period 1990/91 up to 1991/92 farmi ng year was obtained. Parameters measured included among others, numbe r of cows handled per person, the herd size, number of employees per h erd, time spent to milk a cow, milk production per cow per day, per ce nt monthly feed and labour expenses were used in the analysis. The stu dent t-test was used for comparison between the two milking systems. T he gross margin technique was used to assess the returns that accrue t o income from milk sales alone. The results of this study indicated th at there were no major differences (P > 0.05) in the above parameters except milk production per cow per day in those herds keeping Friesian cows. Generally a downward trend in milk production throughout the ye ar was observed in this study. Feed costs compared to labour emerged t o account for the largest portion of the dairy budget in both hand mil king and machine milking systems. As expected, the proportions of labo ur costs in hand milked herds are higher than machine milked ones. Gro ss margins from milk sales of most herds were lower in both cases. If increased income from milk production is to be achieved, improvements in dairy nutrition as well as employment of milking techniques that ta ke advantage of the peak milk ''let down'' are desirable.