Sugath Kulatunga

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered price controls on farmgate prices of milk, following a visit to Milco, a state-run dairy firm.”

The present Farm gate price is Rs 80-110. Dairy farmers demand that it should be Rs 130. Dairy industry is one which has immense potential but also one of the most neglected industries in Sri Lanka. The local production is only 35% of the required milk and the balance imported mainly in the form of milk powder. It is also noted that the consumption of dairy products per capita is very low. The total cost of dairy products imported in 2020 was 334million dollars with an increase of 7 % from the previous year. The cost in rupee term was Rs 93,520,000,000. Against this Rs 93 billion plus, it is reported that a ‘colossal ‘Rs 1 billion has been earmarked for the development of the dairy industry. That is the kind of priority given to this sector.

It would be relevant to look at the Dairy industry and price of milk products in our neighboring country. The dominant player in the industry in India is a state-owned Milk producing cooperative with (3.6 million) milk producers in Gujarat, spread across 13,000 villages of Gujarat. The revenue of Amul in 2020 was 5.1billion USD. Fresh milk sold by Amul in India is 50/60 IRN per liter equal to182 Sri Lanka rupees (LKR). Price paid to the farmer by Amul is 30 INR equal to 109 LKR. The price of 1 Kg of milk powder is 400 INR or LKR 1465.

Given that the conversion of liquid milk to milk powder is 8 liters of fresh milk to one kilogram of milk powder, the cost of the liquid milk in 1 kg of milk powder is 30 in to 8= 240 INR which is 166% of the total cost. Even if one considers the Milk powder cost to be 200 % of the liquid milk cost, the cost of milk powder should be less than 100 by 8 into 2 which is Rs 1600. The price increase demanded of Rs.1945 is not reasonable and needs closer examination. The producer could be paid more and the consumer less.

A new ruse adopted by milk pack manufacturers is to add sugar to the milk powder. This is adulteration. Have the authorities allowed this?

PS.

The founder of the Amul Cooperative, Dr.Kurien was in Sri Lanka during the time of Philip Gunawardhana in 1958 to advise Sri Lanka on the Amul model. After Philip left the govt, any form of cooperative action was not in favor of his successors, and we lost an opportunity to develop a viable dairy industry in the footsteps of Amul.

Not only self-sufficiency but an increase in the consumption of milk foods was envisaged 60 years back in the agriculture development plan of Philip Gunawardhana. The quality of the local herd was to be upgraded through Artificial insemination and stud services. The Animal Act prevented cross breeding with local bulls. The dairy farms with improved breeds like fresian, and Ayrshire were maintained in upcountry farms for dairy products as well as for breeding stock. Thamankaduwa Livestock project was launched to breed cattle crossed with Jersey. A large herd of Jersey heifers were imported and bred in Ambewela. Ridiyagama buffalo farm was meant to supply quality breeding material.

There is no need to import cows as the quality herds in the existing farms can supply all the semen needed. The bull calves from these herds can be distributed to stud centers island wide. The government can learn from the Private sector farm in Ambewela on importing semen, animal feed and establishing pastures

It has been announced that the government plans again to import milch cows from Australia in a bid to make Sri Lanka self sufficient from milk by 2025 and also restrict importing of milk powder that costs the government so much of dollars annually.

This is a laudable proposal but is loaded with very serious problems. The government can gain some lessons from the calamitous experience of some 3000 cows from Australia and New Zealand in 2014 and increased to 20,000 around 2018. The imported animals were of poor quality, unsuited for the local areas in which they were distributed, did not give the expected milk yield and worst of all carried a deadly disease. This operation costing an estimated 25 million US dollars was a total failure. In fact, a Presidential Commission was appointed to report on this debacle. It was also revealed to the Commission that the Ministry of Rural Economy under Minister Harrison, had not heeded repeated warnings by the Department of Animal Production and Health about highly contagious and deadly diseases carried by the imported cows from Australia. https://youtu.be/1ouAoGyZYKg) http://www.dailymirror.lk/ of 29/5/2020.

Pl. also see the article in https://www.abc.net.au/…/australian-dairy…/10936258… dated 3/5 April 2019.

The authorities are advised to read the Commission Report before launching on another massive import unless they are interested in some deal.

It is understood that the government is anxious to obtain quick results. On the other hand, would it not be more judicious to opt for a more practical, less risky, less costly and more comprehensive program of upgrading the local cattle. There was such a comprehensive program in the early 1960 under Philip Gunawardhana. In this program different regions were identified for particular breeds of cattle from Frisian & Ayrshire and Jersey for upcountry, Sindhi, Sahiwal and Jersey cross for the dry zone. The main strategy was to use artificial insemination on the local cows with semen from the appropriate high yielding breeds. A few stud bulls were to be imported for stud services and to obtain semen. It was recognized that the cross bred product would be more adaptable to local conditions and feed, free of disease and more robust. It was envisaged that within a few generations of up-breeding the country would have a cattle herd of high quality capable of meeting the country’s requirement of milk. If this strategy was continued during the last 60 years Sri Lanka would already be having a high-quality herd making us self-sufficient in Milk products. It is interesting to know whether this scheme was sabotaged by the Milk Powder mafia.

In the 1960 Animal Husbandry development scheme it was also recognized that the buffalo herds should also be upgraded. The buffalo is a better converter of roughage, a hardier animal adapted to different conditions, gives a higher yield of richer milk and is more useful for operations in paddy cultivations. Buffalos are more docile and in the Far East children even ride them. The proposal was to import stud buffaloes of Murrah and other milk breeds from India and Pakistan. A large buffalo project was also planned to be located in the Mahaweli villus. Today Buffalo semen is also available to be imported.

A dairy animal which is neglected in Sri Lanka is the goat. It is called the cow of the poor. Goats are easy to maintain and need little space. But can give 1 to 2 gallons of rich milk. Goats are also fast breeders.