Invisible hand triggered Hatton incident

Livestock and Rural Community Development Minister -Arumugam Thondaman

Q: A private company had stopped buying milk from the hill country milk producers. What would you do to alleviate this misery?

A: Private Sector companies have an understanding with the Government to buy a certain quantity of milk from local farmers.

About 60,000 milk farmers supply milk to the government MILCO Co - which collects about 21,000 litres of milk daily. MILCO is ready to buy the produce of milk farmers through dairy farmer societies.

However, I suspect there could be an invisible hand that triggered the Hatton incident.

Milk for schoolchildren

D. P. G. Kumarasiri Government Agent, Nuwara Eliya

Q: Did milk farmers notify about their problems?

A: They did not contact me on this issue. Until they poured all their milk to the road we were not aware of their grievance.

After discussing the situation with the Finance Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry, arrangements have been made to purchase milk from farmers in the event of private companies failing to buy milk. The Government Agent's office will distribute the milk among schoolchildren in the Nuwara Eliya district where malnutrition is high.

This will raise awareness among children of the importance of drinking fresh milk which is a nutrient supplement.

The Government owned MILCO Co. would buy the milk.

Milk production expanded

Asoka Kumar - General Manager, Kurunegala Coconut Triangle Cooperative Milk Union Ltd.

Q: What do you think about the Hatton incident.

A: The Government motivated the people to engage in dairy farming by providing incentives too. The price of a litre of fresh milk was increased from Rs. 35 to Rs. 50 to encourage dairy farming. This is a very progressive measure.

As a result local milk production increased sharply. The Coconut Triangle Milk Union took steps to expand milk production. At present there are five main private sector companies who purchase milk from Dairy farmers in Kurunegala district. The recent Hatton incident exposes the weaknesses on the part of our policy makers. In implementing policies, the policy makers should have the end result which is important in the larger interest of the industry.