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Dairy industry claims to be facing heavy losses 

23 May 2022

By Dinitha Rathnayake     As claimed by All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation (ACFF), the dairy industry is one of the most prominent industries facing heavy losses from the ongoing economic crisis. Speaking to The Morning ACFF National Organiser Namal Karunaratne said that the dairy farmers are currently facing heavy losses during feeding, transport, and storage of milk. “More than 50% of cow feed is actually grass, but the dairy cows have to be well-fed with essential vitamins and a balanced combination of forage, grain, mineral supplements, and protein-rich feed to obtain proper milk. Everything is expensive at this point and the production cost has increased by almost 150%.” Karunaratne also said that the unavailability of fuel and power cuts is also affecting the industry at this point. “Milk has to be stored in refrigerators and storage tanks; frequent power cuts affect the dairy industry, from production to storage of ice cream, yoghurt, butter, cheese, and other products.” According to the data from the Animal Production and Health Department, the cattle and buffalo populations in the country in 2017 were recorded to be 1 million and 0.3 million, respectively, and the total milk production in the country was 483 million litres. Dairy production in the country has recorded positive growth during the last decade, especially after 2008, the data shows. The Ministry of Agriculture also targeted producing milk within the country itself to make it self-sufficient under the “Vistas of Prosperity” policy statement of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Through this project, the current annual milk production in the country was to be increased from 422 million litres to 750 million litres. According to ministry data, assistance from the Ministry of Plantation Industries was expected for this project. “In this way, we will protect the local milk producers. All they have to do is only buy livestock for 22 plantation companies. We will provide all those facilities, as we stated. Accordingly, the Government will provide all the facilities required for 22,000 milk cows. That is how we expect to increase the contribution to the gross domestic production (GDP) of agriculture.  “This is because the contribution of agriculture to the GDP has previously been 37%. But in the past, it has drastically dropped to 7%. Milk production, which stands as an important component of agriculture, is very important. Therefore, to protect producers of milk, these new programmes will be implemented as per the instructions of the President,” the Ministry of Agriculture has mentioned on their website. However, according to Karunaratne, the current situation is far from this envisioned plan. “There are around 500,000 dairy farmers in the industry, and they have lost their expectations since the demand, market, and affordability of local customers decreased drastically.” Due to the current crisis, people are trying to buy rice, dhal, sugar, or vegetables instead of dairy products, he added.


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