300,000 liters of milk remain unsold every day
KATHMANDU, March 6: Dairy industries across the country are struggling to sell the milk produced by farmers as the consumption has decreased. The farmers’ representatives say that although they supply 3.1 million liters of milk to the market daily, dairy industries sell only 2.8 million liters of milk.
Prahlad Dahal, president of Nepal Dairy Association, said that the 300,000 liters of milk bought from farmers per day is not consumed in the market. "The milk which is not sold in the market is converted into butter and milk powder,” he said.
The private dairy industries have a stock of butter and milk powder worth almost Rs 5 billion while the state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has about Rs.1 billion worth of butter and milk powder. "The excess milk has been stocked in the form of butter and milk powder," Dahal said.
Help Struggling Farmers Save Dairy Industries
Sanjeev Jha, general manager of DDC, said that despite collecting 150,000 liters of milk from farmers daily, they are able to sell only 100,000 liters of milk. The DDC has been converting 50,000 liters of milk into butter and milk powder daily, according to Jha.
The dairy industrialists claim that they are struggling to pay the milk producers because the milk bought from the farmers is not being sold in the market. Due to non-consumption of milk, the private sector dairies are yet to pay about Rs 6 billion and the state-owned DDC is yet to clear dues of about Rs 900 million, according to the farmers.
Farmers are protesting as they did not get payment of about Rs 7 billion for the sale of milk. Although some farmers have reached a five-point agreement with the dairy industries and the government, some have said that they will continue the agitation.
Farmers complain that they are facing difficulty to feed their cows and buffaloes, pay bank interest and installments, and even manage household expenses after not getting the payment from the sale of milk for three to four months.
The farmers and industrialists mentioned that domestic products are not getting the market due to the import of dairy products from abroad. They claim that dairy products are being illegally smuggled into the country through the open border.
Milk consumption has decreased due to the decline in the purchasing power of the consumers. While the country has become self-sufficient in milk, problems have surfaced because the milk produced by the farmers is not being sold in the market.
The dairy industries, which used to pay the dues to the milk producers every 15 days in the past, have not been able to pay the farmers even after three months.
Although the government has fixed the minimum price of milk at Rs 65 per liter, it is sold at Rs 70-72 per liter in the market. The government has been helping the farmers to increase milk production and commercialize this sector by attracting the private sector towards animal husbandry.
The consumption of dairy products is expected to increase after the purchasing power of the general public increases. However, the market is still reeling under the economic downturn resulting in the low consumption of milk.
