Promoting consumption of liquid milk:

Efficient supply chain vital

By Gamini Warushamana

Massive media campaigns alone will not promote the consumption of liquid milk. There should be realistic policies and plans to increase local milk production and a reliable supply chain should be developed, said the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya, Dr. K. Samarasinghe.

He said that the process should begin with increasing milk production. There are many farmers who are willing to take to dairy production but they don't have high yield hybrid cows. Self-sufficiency cannot be achieved with traditional local cows with low productivity.

In the 1950-60s Sri Lanka launched breeding farms to produce hybrid cows but today non of them are functioning. The increase in milk production should begin with the breeding of quality cows. Universities and experts have submitted extensive plans for the development of the sector, he said.

Dr. Samarasinghe said that by improving the supply chain alone, milk production could be increased by around 30 percent. Today milk is collected only once a day and all the collectors including private and state-owned dairy companies collect milk only in the morning. If milk is collected in the evening as well, we can increase production by around 30 percent.

There are issues in marketing and distribution. Milk food producers do not have the capacity to collect the existing production. As a result farmers do not get a reasonable price and in some instances they cannot sell the the milk. These issues in the supply chain has a negative impact on the industry.

He said that promotion of the consumption of liquid milk was not easy under the present conditions. Consumers are concerned about the quality of liquid milk and due to adulteration with water and other chemicals, consumers are wary of consuming liquid milk. There should be a reliable supply chain for the daily supply of liquid milk as most households do not have refrigerators.

Consumers said that fresh milk supplies by local dairy companies were expensive and they could not afford it. Most consumers prefer powdered milk due to convenience and taste. Some consumers complain that the consumption of liquid milk causes respiratory complications.

According to statistics, Sri Lanka imports around 80,000 tonnes of milk products annually spending around Rs. 30 billion. Government has launched various programs to increase milk production and hybrid cattle have been imported from Australia.