The government has already requested India, seeking special facility to import cows as the southern neighbor, which is also reeling under shortage of fresh milk, has put ban on export of cattle.[break]
Yog Guru Ramdev had recently proposed to offer milking cows to the government to lower rising deficit of fresh milk.
Talking to Republica Wednesday, Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives Mrigendra Kumar Singh Yadav, said the government recently sent a request letter to the Indian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to provide special privilege for importing cows from India. He said the government was preparing to distribute the cows to different dairy producer co-operatives.
“Guru Ramdev has assured us to provide 50,000 cows of Hariyana and Saibal breeds free of cost. We are busy preparing a framework comprising minimum standards for import,” said Purushottam Mainali, joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MoAC).
The Department of Livestock Services has already proposed a framework to the MoAC, which includes health condition, breed, age and yields of the cows as some of the selection standards.
“We worked out the framework to ensure that cows that we import are more productive,” Mainali said.
The government will arrange transportation cost to get the cows to Nepal once India gives its consent for export.
According to government statistics, the total population of milking cows and buffalos currently stand at 954,460 heads and 1.25 million heads respectively. Over 95 percent of milk collected in formal market is sold as pasteurized milk while the rest is used to produce different milk products. Of the total milk produced in the country, 15 percent comes to formal market, 35 percent are sold in informal market and the rest is used for household consumption.
Dairy producers said total supplies of milk hover around 400,000 liters a day against the daily demand of 800,000 liters.
State-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC), which commands more than 40 percent share in the domestic dairy market, has been importing around 40,000 liters of milk per day from India´s Bihar state. Similarly, big private dairies, which are running under 50 percent of their installed capacity due to shortage of fresh milk, are also sourcing weighing the possibility of sourcing fresh milk from the northern neighbor.
D N Pathak, executive director of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), hoped that long-running shortage of fresh milk will be addressed to some if the government plan to import cows materialized.
NDDB - the dairy market regulator - has already submitted a three-year plan worth Rs 2.83 billion to focus on increasing milk production, reducing cost of production, increasing awareness toward dairy farming, transferring technology and strengthening capacity of institutions involved in dairy sector. However, the plan has been gathering dust at the National Planning Commission for the last couple of months.
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