According to District Livestock Services Office (DLSO), the number of cheese factories and dairies in the district has jumped to nine and 84 respectively. “More such industries are in the process of registration,” stated Dik Bahadur Karki, official at DLSO.[break]
Increasing demand for milk has encouraged more farmers into commercial cattle farming. Cow rearing in the district is increasing at the rate of 20 per percent, while buffalo rearing too is growing by 15 percent, according to DLSO.
Dinesh Mahat, a farmer from Jogamai-2, said local milk producers have started earning as much as Rs 45,000 per month. Presently, dairies are paying as much as Rs 25 per liter for cow milk. According to Mahat, farmers in his village are selling as much as 6o liters of milk a day.
There are 18 dairies in Jogmai VDC alone. They purchase 50 to 500 liters of cow milk from farmers every day.
Kumar Gurung of Jamuna -8 said dairy producers in his village were buying milk at Rs 21 per liter. Farmers are getting good price because of existing competition among dairy producers and cheese industries. “Before two years, it was hard to get Rs 12 per liter. Now, it has almost doubled,” he said.
Eight dairies have been established in Jamuna VDC over the past couple of years. Similarly, a new cheese industry has also been established in the nearby Jaibari village.
The trend of opening dairies in VDCs bordering with India has shot up since a decade. These dairies export ghee and chhurpee (traditional Himalayan cheese) to the Indian market.
Eight chilling centers in the district collect around 30,000 liters of milk and supply it Biratnagar. Apart from these chilling centers, five different organizations buy 4,500 liters of milk each day for cheese factories. These organizations are operating three chilling centers and two dairies.
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