By Conrad Mwanawashe
THE statement did not come from the edge of a pasture, but from a studio chair on ZFN Friday Drinks.
“There is money to be made in farming,” George Guvamatanga told the hosts, the weight of experience in his voice, “if you’re serious and know what you’re doing.”
For the veteran financier, who is currently Permanent Secretary for Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, the road to the milking parlour began at the end of a 28-year career in banking.
After a management consortium he led missed a last-minute bid to buy the bank, Guvamatanga faced a crossroads.
“I thought, okay, 28 years later… if I leave banking, what’s the next step?”
His answer was cattle breeding. He started with a modest herd of Brahmans, but an observant moment on the farm changed everything.
“At some point, I realised these guys were milking my Brahmans,” he recalled. The solution was decisive: he bought four high-yield dairy cows.
That small experiment unlocked a new economic reality.
The farm began generating a surplus, sold locally in Chivhu.
“There was some income generated,” he noted, his banker’s instinct recognising the first signs of a promising cash flow. While he initially ran beef and dairy side-by-side, the data was clear: dairy was the superior engine for consistent revenue.
From those four cows, the operation has scaled to staggering proportions.
Guvamatanga outlined an empire that accounts for an estimated 10% of Zimbabwe’s national milk production: over 3,000 head of cattle and a milking line of 1,600 cows twice daily.
In the cool season—ideal for his European-bred Holsteins and Jerseys—the farm hits its peak, pumping out just over a million litres of milk a month.
Yet, when asked what excites him most, the Permanent Secretary softened.
The spreadsheets faded, replaced by a pastoral ideal.
“It’s the growing of cows,” he said. “It’s always a nice sight, especially when the veld is green and they’re looking healthy. It’s like visiting a game park.”
However, that passion is disciplined by sharp business acumen. Guvamatanga quickly dissected the industry’s core challenge: feed costs.
“In dairy, 50% to 60% of your cost is feed,” he explained.
“The most effective, profitable way of running a dairy is to grow pastures,” he stated. By feeding the herd predominantly on pastures grown on-site, supplemented by his own crops, he keeps the margins healthy.
On air, far from the noise of the milking parlours, Guvamatanga painted a picture of a successful second act. He traded financial ledgers for farm gates, building not just a business, but a cornerstone of the national dairy industry. His story stands as a powerful testament to the opportunity waiting in Zimbabwe’s fields.