Feb 16, 2021
Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Agriculture said in Parliament declared that the government is aiming to make the country a self-sufficient nation in liquid milk, and that this would be achieved within the next four years.
Aluthgamage announced a special program has already been implemented for this purpose. He further added that the government will not intervene in the imports of dairy cows to Sri Lanka, and land will be allotted to private entrepreneurs for raising dairy cows and dairy units.
The Minister said, “About 40% of the annual liquid milk demand in the country is produced locally and the rest is imported as milk powder. Currently about 3, 00,000 suppliers in the country collect liquid milk”.
The Milco and Pelwatte dairy companies are using locally-produced milk within the country. To be informed, Milco is a Sri Lankan’s government-owned dairy company, while Pelwatte is a Sri Lankan owned firm.
Pelwatte said, “Sri Lanka’s annual expenditure on milk imports is $300m. Foreign dairy companies including Fonterra and Nestlé are active in Sri Lanka”.
However, most FAO processors use imported milk powder for their products, except Nestlé, which purchases quite a significant quantity of locally procured milk powder.
In a 2007 FAO report, it was reported that Sri Lanka was aiming to be 50% self-sufficient in milk production by 2015. The report added that imported milk powder has been controversial because it is subjected to low tariff measures in order to keep consumer prices low.
The organization said the only option to increase dairy production is that the Government should increase the tariff on imported milk powders from the present 10 to 30% that is unlikely due to WTO commitments.