Self-sufficiency in milk, our aim - Milco chairman

By P. Krishnaswamy

Milco (Pvt) Limited, the primary milk producing company in the country, is facing the challenge of providing the nation's milk requirement, in the wake of the withdrawal of all brands of imported milk powder and other milk supplements from the shelves in all sales outlets due to the detection of the toxic dicyandiamide (DCD) in the products.

Minister Arumugan Thondaman	Milco Chairman Sunil Wickramasinghe

Milco Chairman Sunil Wickramasinghe elaborated on the measures initiated by them under the directive and assistance of the Ministry of Livestock and Rural Community Development to fast track self-sufficiency in milk and handle the current situation.

Wickramasinghe expressed confidence that the country will produce 80 percent of the total milk requirement in the next two to three years,followed by self-sufficiency before long . Milco is extending assistance and incentives to all stakeholders, entrepreneurs and investors with the request to join hands with the Government to facilitate and speed up the process of achieving self-sufficiency in milk and help the country to save a staggering US $ 400 million per year to the national coffers , he said.

Wickramasinghe told the Sunday Observer:

In my view the present situation with regard to milk has become a national issue. Some consignments of imported milk have been found to be contaminated with DCD and whey protein, unfit for human consumption. We have had such complaints in the past too. It establishes the fact that whatever is produced in one's country is far better and people now understand this reality. It is fresh and is a product of the country. The other advantage is that if any defects are found it could be traced and rectified . So far we have not detected any such defects in the local products. But, I believe one can make mistakes because they are performed by machines and humans.

It is crucial that one follows stringent quality release norms and observe the release procedure of the final product. There is an internationally accepted procedure to release fresh milk, milk powder and other supplements, such as yoghurt. A guarantee on the shelf life of the product has to be given under this procedure. So I cannot understand how these products were released to the market without following the accepted norms. Do they take it for granted that everything is okay when it comes to a developing nation? They were cautioned many months ago of the suspected presence of toxic material in their products. Despite this a contaminated stock has been released to the market.

It is encouraging that we have many experts on the subject in the country. We have to appreciate that they have spoken out their views. I have listened to the TV programs and debates on the subject. They are making a practical, knowledgeable and patriotic approach to the problem. It is gratifying that the country has a knowledge bank on virtually all food related matters and that they are resolute in their stand and will not bow down to any outside force.

The current situation calls for remedial measures. But I cannot think of any measure other than fast tracking our goal towards self-sufficiency. This is a blessing in disguise because we are now under pressure to speed up the goal towards self-sufficiency. We are faced with a big challenge .

The detection of toxic material in milk is not an isolated incident. There may be many more hazardous substandard food items we import. Money has overtaken ethics in the world today. It is due to these reasons that the number of cases of cancer, diabetes and other diseases are increasing by the day . I heard Dr.Padeniya saying in a TV program that 10 years ago he had not come across a single case of child diabetes. Today, an alarming 11 percent of the children are suffering from this dreaded disease, he said. It is due to the food and bad habits of eating. Food safety should be our first priority. Gary Romano, has resigned as Managing Director of Fonterra, New Zealand's milk giant accepting responsibility for the presence of toxic material in their milk products although the company has disputed our findings. So, we are now at a juncture where we have to explore all our potential for producing quality milk and other supplementary products. The plantation areas in the central hills are ideal for dairy farming. Many people from these areas are taking to dairy farming driven by the increased average farm gate price of liquid milk up to Rs.50 per litre and other incentives offered by Milco.

The number of milch cows has also increased. The contribution from the Northern and Eastern provinces, improved infrastructure including the several chilling centres of large, medium and small scale milk collecting centres and the dairy development programs introduced by the government contributed to the overall improvement in the industry. Pasture land for medium scale dairy has been an issue for sometime.

The Livestock and Rural Community Development Minister Arumugan Thondaman convened a meeting of all CEOs of the plantation management companies and got them to agree to release some extents of lands for pasture development. He proposed that we have common cattle sheds in all divisions of the plantation estates which will facilitate maintenance of the dairies.

Minister Thondaman visited Jaffna about a year ago and held discussions with the authorities on promoting dairy farming in the province. Consequently, we started dairy farming projects on a large scale in Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu, Mallavi and Kilinochchi and other areas.

History bears witness to the fact that the Jaffna farmers had been in the forefront of dairy farming and produced the highest quantity of milk. Now, with peace and normal life having been restored in the Northern and Eastern provinces, the traditional dairy farmers have returned to their professions and the Ministry and Milco are extending them incentives to boost milk production.

Our milk products are of a better quality because our liquid milk reaches the market within two days . There is a big demand for our products. It has a shelf life of 35 days. And soon after release within seven days it is in the market.

It is not possible for us alone to cope with the present demand. All local stakeholders must join in our efforts to meet the demand and reach self-sufficiency.

Milco expects at least a fifty percent market share on milk products. Minister Thondaman has given us the green light to take measures to invite new investors to the dairy farming sector and we are developing dairy villages. We give incentives for pasture development and cattle sheds. A series of projects have been initiated to achieve self-sufficiency in milk. We have taken measures to popularise liquid milk and started TV and newspaper publicity programs in the effort to educate the people on the benefits of liquid milk.

With the addition of the 2,000 hybrid cows imported from Australia the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) now has 12,000 cows in its 32 cattle farms in the country and the imported cows are contributing towards the government's target of achieving self-sufficiency in milk. The imported cows are in the Bopatalawa, Diyagama and Menikpalama farms. Before the import of the cows, the total milk production in the NLDB farms was 8,000 litres per day whereas after the import of cows, milk production at the Menikpalama farm alone reached 8,000 litres. Each imported cow gives a minimum of five calves and it has been ensured under the artificial sex semen insemination that 4 of them are females. The Cabinet recently approved a paper tabled by Minister Thondaman to set up another farm with 2,500 high quality cows and the project will be completed within this year.

The Batticaloa and Ampara regions have recorded a rapid development in milk production, pushing many other regions behind. In the entire Nuwara Eliya region there are over 3,000 farmers supplying an average of 22,000 litres per day to MILCO collecting centres in Kotagala, Punduloya, Holbrook, Ragalla, Norwood, Gampola and Nawalapitiya, he said.

The farmers are in the membership of 243 Farmer Management Societies which represent their interests. They supply veterinary drugs to the farmers at subsidised prices. Building materials to the value of Rs.30,000/- are being supplied to members of the societies for the renovation of cattle sheds.

The materials supplied by the Livestock Development Ministry are distributed among deserving farmers through the nearest government veterinary centres in a phased manner.

A majority of the farmers engaged in dairy farming in the estates do not own any grasslands and where farmers own lands, MILCO supplies grass cutting to develop grasslands. The country has a total of 230,000 farmers at present, including the North and East.

MILCO is working on establishing collecting centres in the North while a large number of collective centres have already been established in the Eastern Province, with more to be established in the future. The import tax on all equipment needed for processing milk has been waived by the Government.