Sri Lanka’s President calls for implementation of short and long term projects to meet liquid milk demand
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has recently instructed officials to implement short and long term plans in collaboration with the public and private companies as well as small-scale farmers in order to meet the demand for liquid milk in the local market.
The President has reportedly noted the need to improve grass cultivation, dairy cow breeding, and research institute services to achieve the set targets expeditiously.
President Rajapaksa has made these remarks during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat recently, to discuss future activities of the State Ministry of Livestock Farm Promotion and Dairy and Egg Related Industries.
Accordingly, the government of Sri Lanka intends to expand the research activities that would help in introducing new breeds of dairy cattle, suitable for different geographical areas of the country.
It was pointed out that less than 40 percent of the country’s annual liquid milk requirement is produced locally, and as a result, people are deprived of the opportunity to consume nutritious fresh liquid milk.
The meeting has also discussed the cultivation of high quality grasses and cattle feed production to increase the production of milk was also discussed at length.
Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival Chairman Basil Rajapaksa has reportedly noted that small-scale dairy farmers provide 85 percent of the total liquid milk production and that they should be further strengthened.
“Farmers are discouraged due to the rising cost of production per litre of milk,” he has added.
The Chairman has also pointed out the need to provide dairy farmers with cattle feed, including grasses, under concessionary rates.
OSL take:
The dairy industry is one of the industries that the government of Sri Lanka is focused on further strengthening. This has created many business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s dairy industry. Foreign businesses/investors could explore the many opportunities expanding in the country’s dairy industry.
Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200923/Z_4 |