Islandwide campaign:

Creating awareness of indigenous products

By Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

The import of milk should be stopped as the country is self-sufficient said Pelwatte Sugar Corporation and Maubima Lanka Foundation Chairman Ariyaseela Wickramanayake.

He said the country spends around $ 4,000 million a year on imports of milk powder from countries that have made Sri Lanka and many developing countries a dumping ground.

New Zealand produces around 12 million tons of milk a year whereas it requires only around one million tons. The rest is exported. Sri Lanka is a dumping ground for cheap milk.

Wickramanayake said that Sri Lanka has around 12 million cows whereas only around 240,000 cows are milked which is about 35 percent of the country's requirement. The country needs to milk 600,000 cows.

He said that except for oil the country should produce what it requires. Sri Lanka's export income is around $ 10,000 million whereas expenditure on imports is around $ 20,000 million. The trade deficit should be bridged by increasing production and encouraging people to use locally produced goods.

The annual expenditure on imports of sugar is around $ 4,000 million a year. Only around 10 percent is produced in the country. The Pelwatte Sugar factory produces around 10 percent of the country's requirement while Sevanagala produces around three percent.

Pelwatte has around 25,000 acres of sugarcane cultivation with around 7,000 out-grower farmers and around 8,000 milk farmers.

Wickramanayke said that if sugar and milk imports are stopped the Pelwatte sugar factory could be expanded. Milk powder prices are high because people prefer to buy imported products.

The tax on milk imports should be increased to discourage consumption of imported milk.