Biratnagar, March 18:

40,000 dairy farmers in eastern region have been affected due to the Maoist-called blockade.

The Dairy Products Distribution Project at Biratnagar said milk collection from Ilam, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari and Dhankuta districts has been halted since March 14.

The Project has been collecting around 32,000 litres of milk daily from the districts at Rs 12 to Rs 17 per litre before the blockade. Chief of the project, Giridhar Bajracharya said milk worth Rs .55 million collected from about 40,000 farmers here is being wasted daily.

According to him, the project used to purchase milk from 125 milk collection centres situated at Barbote, Bimlyante, Puwakhola, Tinghare and Fikkal in Ilam, Budhabare, Kutidanda, and Surunga in Jhapa, Hile and Chitre in Dhankuta, Tarhara and Itahari in Sunsari and different VDCs in Morang daily.

A dairy farmer of Mrigauliya of Morang Hem Raj Ojha said upto 1,000 litres of milk was being supplied to the project from one such collection centre.

However, at present only 5,000 litres of milk is being collected in the project daily from some places in Morang and Sunsari, which is just enough for Biratnagar residents only, Bajracharya said. Earlier, the project was responsible for supplying milk to Itahari, Inarua and other nearby places.

Meanwhile, the powdering equipment of the project hasn’t been brought to use for the past five days due to lack of milk. Also, vegetable farmers of the region have been hit hard due to the blockade and are not being able to sell their produce, Triloki Bhagat, member of Vegetable Market Management Committee situated at Biratnagar said. Vegetables produced here including tomato, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, onion and other green vegetables have started rotting.