KATHMANDU, May 28: The Chitwan Milk Limited (CML), located in Thimura, of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-1, Chitwan, has been closed since April 23 due to a shortage of milk.
Cooperative organizations and dairy farms used to supply unsold milk to the industry. The industry used this milk to manufacture ghee (butter) and powdered milk. However, this time, the industry has not received the necessary milk to operate, and as a result, it has been forced to remain closed for a month, said Hem Prasad Tiwari, CML Assistant Manager.
According to him, this is the first time since its establishment that the industry has been shut down due to a shortage of milk. “After the month of Falgun, the milk supply used to decrease, but it had never caused a shutdown like this,” said Tiwari. “When we stopped receiving milk from farmers, we had no choice but to close the industry.” He added that at least 40,000 liters of milk are needed to operate the industry.
He said that even though they planned to operate the industry at least one day a week and requested milk from farmers, they were unable to obtain it. This industry can process 150,000 liters of milk daily to produce powdered milk and ghee. There are 34 employees working in the industry, and the monthly expenses are around Rs 1.5 million.
Chitwan becomes self-sufficient in milk
The electricity bill alone exceeds Rs 500,000 per month. Currently, the industry has 9,000 bags of 15 kg ghee and 12,000 bags of powdered milk remaining in stock. The industry claims that this stored milk is sufficient for upcoming festivals.
The industry has been processing milk by charging fees from dairies and cooperatives since 2075 BS. He stated that the amount of milk coming to the industry has been continuously decreasing in recent years. While the industry used to receive 12.8 million liters of milk annually three years ago, only 11.2 million liters of milk have come in the current Fiscal Year (FY).
From the month of Falgun to Bhadra (mid-February to mid-September), the demand for milk in the market is very high. Although the industry had to close due to a shortage of milk, farmers have said that it has been difficult for them to sell their milk.
Kishore Bagale, president of Chitwan District Milk Producers Cooperative Association, warned that some industries have warned that they will not produce milk to avoid paying farmers. “Farmers have not received their payments since Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December),” Bagale said, “They have been reluctant to collect milk because they need to pay the farmers.”
He also stated that the National Dairy Development Board, owned by the government, has not been regularly collecting milk from the farmers.
Industrialists have claimed that they are unable to pay farmers due to unsold milk. However, Bagale said that the market currently has a low stock of dairy products. “They say they couldn’t make payments because the products didn’t sell," he said. "But right now, there is neither stock in the market nor unprocessed milk. This is just an excuse by the industrialists to avoid paying the farmers.”
Bhagirath Timilsina, vice president of the Central Dairy Cooperative Association Limited Nepal, also stated that while farmers are not being paid and industrialists are blaming product stockpiles, industries like Chitwan Milk do not actually have large stocks.
He said that dairy cooperatives have been paying farmers even by taking loans. He also refuted the claim that cooperatives have diverted funds elsewhere and failed to pay the farmers. “Cooperatives in Chitwan have been borrowing money to pay the farmers,” he said. “Even at their own risk, the cooperatives are working to solve the farmers' problems.”
Established in the year 2065 BS, CML is the largest milk processing industry in Nepal. The industry has the capacity to process 150,000 liters of milk per day. Its main objective is to produce high-quality milk powder and ghee. The industry collects milk from dairies ranging from Mechi in the east to Mahakali in the west.
