Dairy farming has vast potential in North

Dairy farming could boost incomes and the nutritional status of tens of thousands of returnees in Sri Lanka's North.

"The livestock sector has vast potential for contributing towards economic development, poverty alleviation and nutritional deficiency, and creating opportunities for involving more women in the economic development process," said Patrick Charignon, Head of Livelihood Development at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Sri Lanka.

Many households have taken up cattle farming or, in some cases, returned to it. Over 51 percent of the 131,000 returnee families now manage livestock, a recent UN and government survey discovered. Others who currently do not have cattle report owning them in the past.

The Northern Province used to be a milk-producing area, and more than half the population worked with livestock. Livestock management was a major cottage industry in the region even during the conflict, said Seenithamby Manoharan, the Senior Rural Development Specialist in the World Bank's office in Colombo.

Livestock rearing has grown more popular among returnees since it is relatively easy to manage and does not involve long hours when there are few animals, as is the case with most households.Current dairy production meets less than 15 percent of the demand in the Northern Province, which IOM estimated at more than 91,000 tons of milk annually in a recent assessment, and concluded that there is untapped potential in dairy farming.

Increasing dairy production by about 50 percent is "critical" to improving nutritional status in the region.

The preliminary findings of a March 2012 nutrition assessment by the Government, the UN World Food Programme, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) indicated worsening malnutrition in children aged under five, currently estimated at 18.3 percent for the entire Northern Province and 20 percent among returnees.

Household needs

Experts at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said nurturing dairy farming could benefit related industries like milk processing, veterinary services and animal feed.

Yet, keeping livestock is still seen by many as something to meet a household's needs rather than earning an income.

Not many young people are taking it up, said Shakthevale Arinesarajah, an FAO livestock consultant in Sri Lanka.Livestock farming cannot take off without more infrastructure.

"We have a good market and good prices, but still, if we can have large milk collection centres with electric [chilling] storage... we can get more [money]," said a returnee who gave his name as Pathinathan, in Darmapuram village in Kilinochchi District, where he manages a herd of about 50 cows.

Another drawback is herd quality. Pathinathan says unlike in other parts of the country, he is working with animals left behind and there is little effort to introduce better breeds in the North where a cow produces at most two litres of milk daily, a fraction of what is needed to meet the region's dairy demands, as calculated by IOM.

Proper veterinary and breeding services are scarce due to lack of funding, said the FAO, whose appeal for US$3 million to replace lost livestock and build infrastructure in the region had not received pledges by the end of July.

Farmers' organisations could benefit from better infrastructure and collective bargaining. Currently, there is no set price for milk and most farmers sell for what the buyer offers.

"Having their own chilling centres will make them viable and competitive," said FAO's Arinesarajah.

"Then they could bargain and supply milk to any collector who pays them [a good price]."

-IRIN