The supply of ghee has gone down drastically just when it is consumed the most.
Dairy entrepreneurs opine that the market, at present, is facing shortage of ghee as the supply of milk has been limited in the market.
The production of ghee at Sitaram Gokul Milks, one of a leading private dairy in the country, has gone down drastically. [break]
“We have the capacity to produce more than 16 tons of butter a month. However, we are not being able to produce even a ton at present,” says BM Jha, marketing manager of the company. Jha said the short supply of milk from farmers was the chief reason for the crisis.
Jha also said that decline in the proportion of Fat in milk supplied from farmers has also affected the production of ghee and butter. “Couple of months before the milk supplied from farmers would have 4.5 percent fat, while it is less than 3 percent at present,” Jha said.
Similar is the case with Dairy Development Corporation (DDC), the only state owned dairy in the country. The dairy which used to produce more than 3,000 liters of ghee a couple of month ago, has seen its production slump by around 50 percent. “The supply of milk these days have gone down in the capital, resulting in the crisis of dairy products, basically of ghee and butter,” says SP Singh, general manager of the corporation.
According to DDC, the corporation requires 2,25,000 liters of milk a day but the regular production has been around 160,000 liters these days.
Moreover, DDC has started importing milk ranging from 20,000 liters to 30,000 liters from India on a daily basis in order to meet the demand.
However, Singh said that the market is recovering slowly with increasing trend of the supply of milk.
Praladh Dahal, general secretary of Nepal Dairy Association (NDA) said, “With low production of milk in the country, most of the dairies are entangled in the problem of limited supply.”
Dahal further said that the scarcity of ghee and butter continues even in the festive period if supply of milk doesn´t increase in the capital valley.
Dairy entrepreneurs also cite increasing local consumption of milk, farmer´s shift toward selling buffalo meat, among others, as the other reasons behind the crisis.
In many places, farmers have started slaughtering buffalos as buff´s price had soared in the market due to the fear of bird flu.
Milk is basically supplied among large-scale dairies in the country through districts like Kavre, Chitwan, Dhading, Sindhu Palchwok, Nawalparasi and Rupendehi.
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