Ministry of Agriculture launches several programs to increase domestic milk production
Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, K.D. Lalkantha, conducted a special inspection at the Milco Company located in Ambewela yesterday (08th).
In addition, the Minister also participated in the occasion of handing over ten dairy cows to farmers, organized by the Ambewela Company, which had previously been under government ownership and was transferred to the private sector.
At this occasion, the Minister expressed his views.
“Increasing milk production is one of the main national targets in our livestock sector. Currently, we are at around 40% of national milk production. We still have a 60% gap to fill. The aim of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation is to fill that gap is. Both the public sector and the private sector must jointly achieve this target. In that effort, Ambewela Company has already fulfilled a tremendous national role, and we greatly appreciate that. We are grateful to that company for taking a government farm and bringing it up to the standard of one of the leading farms in South Asia. There is much we can learn from that. We hope that our public sector and private sector will unite and continue to move forward on this journey at an even faster pace. We now have the experience to do so.
Our dairy farmers are the most important group. Dairy farmers must be looked after. A person will only engage in a certain production if they can sustain their livelihood from the economic returns of it. Otherwise, they will give it up. It is absolutely essential to provide the necessary support to our dairy farmers. In the last budget, our President, in his capacity as Finance Minister, has allocated a large sum for the public sector towards our national milk production. Using those funds, we are currently moving forward with a national program called the Dairy Hub. Through this program, we hope to give a significant boost to this sector. What is being done today confirms that this is not solely the responsibility of the public sector. The farmers who receive these dairy cows today have a responsibility to take good care of these animals.
The situation that has arisen in the world has had an impact on our country. At such a moment, we must increase our national production.
We meet every other week to discuss regarding the country’s food security. This time, we discussed how the prevailing war situation affects our food security. It is clear that increasing national production is the most important matter.
In recent times, the Milco Company made a profit. That profit was distributed among the employees and dairy farmers. Everyone is working together to prepare the government’s development plans.”
