‘Milco Kiri Govi Abhiman’ for a prosperous country rich in milk was held at the Temple Trees under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya
‘Milco Kiri Govi Abhiman’ for a prosperous country rich in milk was held on the 2nd at the Temple Trees under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. At this event, incentive allowances were presented to dairy farmers who supply milk to Milco, and field officers of Milco were also appreciated.
Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, K.D. Lalkantha expressed his views while participating in this event.
There is no dairy industry without dairy farmers. Therefore, the most important factor in the dairy industry is the dairy farmers. Various problems arise in the dairy industry. Issues such as lack of pastures, lack of water and health problems emerge. We cannot continue this industry for much longer by freely releasing large cattle herds and allowing them to find grass. We cannot just give pastures on demand. There is a significant problem. That’s why we need a new technological era in the dairy industry. There is a serious problem regarding animal feed. Animals don’t get sufficient water. Among health problems, there are foot diseases. Therefore, there is a big challenge in this sector. We recruited officers for the livestock sector very recently. Many officers are not in these posts. Either they leave the country after some time. They give up these jobs because the salaries and benefits they receive are not adequate. Officers don’t have vehicles to travel. They think more about themselves than about the sector. We cannot blame them for that.
We propose to Milco that they should connect with the NLDB (National Livestock Development Board) and find a quick solution to these problems. Otherwise, we cannot reach the 2030 targets as mentioned. We are trying. The main problem is pasture/fodder. Pasture and maize are essential for this purpose. If we consider maize production, we only produce 50%. There is no more land to cultivate maize. Therefore, we have to combine with technology to get more milk from fewer animals. We have created a program called Dairy Hub for this purpose.
Milco was to be sold to India. But we talked with India and stopped it. I am grateful to India on this occasion. They accepted our policy and expressed agreement on this matter.
We used to say that even though the country is surrounded by the sea, we import canned fish from other countries. But now we don’t import canned fish from abroad. Now there is food security in the country.
At present, Milco has become a farmer-owned company.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne also expressed his views at this event.
“Milco was going to be sold for a very low price. A large amount of direct and indirect loans had to be paid to farmers. But today it has become a profitable company. Our target for the year 2030 is to increase daily milk production to 3 million liters.”
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, who joined as the special guest at this occasion, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation D.P. Wickremasinghe, Member of Parliament in Anuradhapura District, Susantha Kumara Nawaratne, and Milco Chairman Hemajeewa Gotabhaya expressed their views. A large number of dairy farmers who were appreciated at this occasion also participated.
