Momentum created in the dairy industry: Roundtable

Speakers at a roundtable on Tuesday discussed problems and potentials of the country’s emerging dairy industry.

“The dairy industry is still a developing sector, but a momentum has already been created in the industry,” said director general of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute Nathuram Sarkar, addressing a roundtable organised by Prothom Alo in association with Pran Dairy Limited at CA Bhaban in the capital.

But, he said, milking equipment has not been modernised as yet.

Eleash Mridha, managing director of Pran Group, said, “By 2020, agro production will be the third booming sector in the county. This sector has a multiple impact on society as along with the expansion of the industry, jobs and entrepreneurship will also increase.”

“Once we were a food deficit county, now we are self-sufficient in food. We will be self-sufficient in milk very soon too.”

He also said, “The dairy industry is a multi-faceted sector. But, people involved in the sector lack knowledge of proper and hygienic milking, processing and marketing the product.”

He also said now production is contracted in only regions of the country. It can be spread throughout the country.

“I hope in next 5 years we will be self-sufficient in producing milk,” he added.

Saiful Islam Akon, assistant professor at University Laboratory School and College, said he visited Pran’s dairy farms and witnessed the process of its milk preservation, distribution and marketing procedure.

He said the process was very transparent and they maintain quality.

“We need teamwork between the media, the producers and the distributors to boost this industry,” he added.

Md Imran Hossain, president of Bangladesh Dairy Farmers’ Association (BDFA), said, “We now have more than 81,000 dairy farmers. Of them, over 50,000 are graduates. We have production of nearly 9.4 million metric tonnes of milk, but we have a demand of 15 million metric tonnes annually.

“We are falling behind by nearly 600,000 metric tonnes, but we don’t have any subsidies. If we look at neighbouring India, the farmers are subsidised by the government there.

“We should also consider anti-dumping action against import of powdered milk.”

He was very optimistic about the country’s self-sufficiency in milk production as he told the roundtable, “We will be able to minimise the shortfall in the next two or three years.”

He added that cattle food was very costly. “A kilo of wheat costs Tk 22 whereas a kilo of wheat husk costs Tk 37. It is because of a strong syndication.”

India is both the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk.

“We should strive to get people into the habit of drinking milk.”

Md Shariful Islam Lashkar, director general of Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, said in 2009, milk production was exactly 2.29 million metric tonnes. In the ten years production has reached 9.46 million metric tonnes.

Admitting the government body’s lack of capacity in this regard, he said they have to rely on other government organisations to examine food adulteration.

He also said the government has plans to promote drinking milk and to boost the dairy industry.

“We have a plan to provide milk at schools. The kids will buy milk instead of fizzy drinks.”

He said the private sector can advance this initiative.

Raihanul Habib, professor of the dairy science department at Bangladesh Agriculture University, said, “An Israeli cow gives an average of 62 litres of milk, an American cow 50 litres, an Australian cow 30 litres, while a Bangladeshi cow gives just about 2 to 5 litres.”

“We neither have coordinated marketing nor quality milk in the market. The awareness campaign is not effective either.”

He also said the dairy industry depends of three chains -- the cooling chain, the supply chain and the value chain.

Once these chains are maintained, the future of the industry will be bright.

Umme Kulsum Smriti, president of the National Dairy Development Forum, said, “We now have more than 200,000 dairy farmers. Women are involved in the farms. But, we should have coordinated plans to increase their involvement.”

Also, she added, easy and low-interest loans should be provided to the farmers to boost the industry.

She called on the government to restrict the volume of milk products being imported.

Director o Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution’s (Certification mark wing) SM Ishaq Ali, said, “We should go to the roots of the problem.”

He said toxic elements in milk come from various sources.

“Our cattle food is not of good quality. The milking is not hygienic. No timetable is properly maintained for the preservation and production.”

Muniruzzaman, executive director of Pran Dairy Limited, said, “Pran Dairy was launched in 2003. At the beginning we used to produce pasteurised milk. When we started producing UHT milk, people questioned how milk can be preserved without freezing. Still people are not used to this.”

He also said, “Overall milk consumption in Bangladesh is very low as there is also a sort of anti-milk campaign in different media.

“We now have cooling centres in five areas of northern part of Bangladesh. The distance between the production hubs and cooling centres is at best 30 minutes away.”

Golam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said, “Once people are made aware of the benefits of milk, the demand will automatically increase.”

“For the benefit of consumers, production costs must be lowered and the competition in the market must remain.”

Hiresh Chandra, director general of Livestock Directorate, said the problem is the dairy industry is still an informal sector.

About cattle diseases, he said, “At the moment, we have capacity of vaccinating only 10-15 per cent cattle, but we are working to increase our capacity.”

“We are also working on building local ‘cooling hubs’ jointly with the farmers. We have a plan to create a National Milk Grid under a new Dairy Development Board,” he said while addressing the roundtable, moderated by Prothom Alo associate editor Abdul Quayum.