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Milk powder imports to be stopped in four years: Minister of Agriculture

17 Feb 2021

The Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated today that the importation of milk powder will be stopped within the next four years after the country becomes self-sufficient in milk. He said the government would popularise the consumption of liquid milk. Hd said the daily milk requirement at Milco is 600,000 liters. "However, the company receives only 200,000 liters of milk daily. Although the Makandura Dairy is about to open, it does not have enough milk for its production. There are 1.2 million cattle in the country. Out of this only two and 250,000 of cows give milk. "We expect to increase the quantity of milk obtained from one dairy cow by two liters by feeding and watering the cows on time,” he stated. It was revealed that this year's budget has allocated Rs. 1.5 billion for animal husbandry. The Minister said the number of dairy cows will be increased to 500,000 within the next two years. Meanwhile, he said the importation of green gram, peanuts, sesame and cowpea have already been stopped.


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