Sujal has been producing pouch milk, curd, paneer, clarified milk, powdered milk, chocolates and ice-creams with milk collected from over a dozen districts, including Kavre, Rautahat, Kapilvastu, Gulmi and Palpa. [break]
“We were compelled to scale down our daily production by half due to deficit of fresh milk which has resulted in scarcity of dairy products in the market,” said Nirajan Shrestha, executive director of Sujal Dairy.
The dairy has been producing powdered milk every alternate day to manage the crunch of fresh milk. “We cannot continue production of powdered milk in the dry season from September to April. The dairy has an installed capacity of producing powdered milk from 80,000 liters of fresh milk.
“We can produce six tons of powdered milk if necessary quantity of fresh milk is available for our dairy,” said Bishnu Prakash Bhandari, general manager of Sujal Dairy. Sujal, which had exported total 50 tons of powdered milk to Pakistan last year, has halted exports.
Traders have claimed that Nepal has been importing more than 1,200 tons of powdered milk annually to supplement the demand in domestic market.
“We have stopped to take orders from neighboring countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, as we are facing an acute shortage of fresh milk,” said Shrestha.
Sujal has been encouraging around 900 farmers in Kaski, Tanahun, Syangja, Gulmi, Palpa, Lamjung, Chitwan, Nawalparasi to produce more milk by arranging concessional loans to buy lactating cows.
Similarly, Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has been importing 50,000 liters of fresh milk daily from the Indian state of Bihar due to shortage of fresh milk in the domestic market.
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