Milk production in Chitwan increases

Chitwan, August 30

Milk production in Chitwan has increased by over 10,000 metric tonnes in the past five years, said the District Livestock Service Office (DLO). The increment was 4,414 metric tonnes in the last fiscal year alone, said DLO Chief Dilliram Sedain.

Milk production increased to 90,211 metric tonnes in fiscal year 2016-17 from 85,797 metric tonnes in fiscal 2015-16.

Likewise, the figure was put at 84,077 metric tonnes in fiscal 2014-15, an increment from 82,930 metric tonnes in the previous fiscal.

On average, some 250,000 litres of milk is produced in the district on a daily basis, the DLO said, adding that the increment in production is by 4.89 per cent every year. “The produce is supplied to major cities like Kathmandu,” said Sedain.

The DLO Chitwan has attributed the increase in milk production to the new farmers enthusiastically venturing into animal husbandry, especially rearing cows. The District Milk Producers’ Cooperatives Association Chair Harihar Subedi, however, differed and said that milk production has been decreasing in Chitwan district lately.

In line with the government’s target to make the country self-reliant in milk and meat products within fiscal year 2018-19, the concerned local authority has initiated the process to declare Chitwan district self-reliant on the same.

As the guidelines have already reached the local administration, the process has been started towards this end, as per Sedain.

Per individual milk requirement for a year is 90 litres in the country while going by the milk production rate in the district, it comes to around 137 litres per person for annual consumption. As the production is relatively higher than the required consumption rate, the local authority is gearing up to declare Chitwan a self-reliant district in milk products.