Amid the food shortages and economic hardship being experienced in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe's family-owned company Alpha Omega is now offering a new range of ice creams and chocolates.

Alpha Omega already produced liquid milk products, yoghurts and other dairy products.

The Zimbabwean dairy manufacturing industry, controlled by Dairibord Holdings, said on Thursday last week that the local market demand for dairy products was faltering, forcing it to switch focus to the Mozambican, South African and Zambian export markets.

Economists said Zimbabwe's manufacturing base was shrinking, with current capacity utilisation below 40% amid pressure on retailers to lower prices.

The new range of ice cream sticks, cones and cups as well as chocolates launched by Mugabe's company on Friday was in pursuit of value addition, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said in a speech read on his behalf at the Mugabe estate in Mazowe on Friday.

Zimbabwe had resorted to heifer imports to boost its dairy cow herd and lift milk production in the country, with annual milk production currently averaging 55 million litres. The Zimbabwe Dairy Services Department said raw milk production in Zimbabwe for the first six months to June 2015 had increased only marginally by 2%.

"We have invested a lot into research and development of these new products. We are competing with a company (Dairibord Holdings) that has been existing for a long time while we have been in existence for only two-and-a-half years," said Alpha Omega general manager Stanley Nhari.

Zimbabwean Agriculture Minister Joseph Made lauded the company for adding a new range of products to its portfolio. He said the Mugabes have already taken up about 30% of the market share for locally manufactured dairy products, adding that the country currently had a herd of about 33 000 dairy cows.