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The recent government instruction to support the livestock sector, including dairy farmers, during the ongoing countrywide shutdown has hardly benefited the marginal dairy farmers, insiders have said.
As a result, the country's dairy farmers are still counting huge losses as they find themselves in a difficult situation to sell their items including milk, ghee, curd and chives.
Recently the government had issued an instruction to the local administration to facilitate the supply, transportation and marketing, and provide other logistics support to the livestock industry businesses as those are perishable items and local dairy farmers can not preserve these.
The instruction came after the dairy farmers' association and others met the officials of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on March 25 seeking support and instruction to run their businesses during the countrywide shutdown.
President of Bangladesh Dairy Farmers' Association (BDFA) Mohammed Imran Hossain told the FE that the notice issued at the eleventh hour, in practical, was not helpful for the local dairy farmers.
"Time is passing but in reality, we hardly avail any support from local administration. And the state of huge losses is still unchanged as the local administrations are found to be unfriendly despite our people carrying the letter of the ministry to allow them to do business," he added.
The livestock sector, including dairy, poultry and fisheries, is the biggest sector where local people invest. But there is limited government support compared to what the export-orientated sector enjoys -- the readymade garment industry, for example, he said.
"We demand financial support of the government for the livestock sector especially for the small and marginal farmers for their survival," he added.
During meeting, the local milk processing companies showed sympathy and assurance of buying row dairy items from local small and marginal farmers "but we still didn't get any such support from them", he mentioned.
"And, they (milk processing companies) rather import raw dairy items from abroad instead of buying from local dairy farmers," he alleged. Milk Vita also cut its purchase from dairy farmers to a half.
BDFA earlier had sought immediate support from the government as their dairy products were remaining unsold due to the countrywide shutdown, and they were counting huge losses daily amounting to Tk 570 million, and farmers had to sell milk at Tk 12 to 15 at many places in the country. And, about 12 to 15 million litres of milk were remaining unsold.
Citing the crisis, the association leaders urged the country's milk processing companies to come forward to help them, otherwise 50 per cent of the total dairy farms in the country could be shut down. They said large companies only buy 5.0 per cent of the total milk produced by the local dairy farmers.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing at PRAN-RFL Group, told the FE on Tuesday their collection from dairy farmers was continuing and they were trying their best to continue the supply chain.
He said PRAN, one of the largest milk processing companies in the country, collects raw products from the farmers they are in formal contract with.
"But, thinking about the crisis we could collect milk from other farmers after having necessary procedures and tests as we are bound to maintain and ensure food safety according to the company's strict policy," he added.
The ministry's letter issued on March 25 read that transportation for poultry, eggs,
poultry feed items, day-old chicks, poultry-livestock feeds, meat, dairy products, other animals and artificial breeding equipment will remain out of the shutdown order.
According to BDFA, some 0.3 million dairy farms are there in the country while some 10.2 million people are dependent on it. And, dairy farmers provide 9.9 million tonnes of milk annually.
And local dairy farmers mainly sell their dairy items, including mild, ghee, curd, chives to local sweets and confectionery buyers which is now restricted due to the shutdown, said BDFA.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim on Wednesday said that his ministry took all necessary measures to support the livestock sector -- including the local dairy farmers -- while briefing about the government initiatives for the livestock sector.
In order for continuation of the production, transportation and marketing alongside other logistic support, the ministry took some initiatives and sent letters to the home ministry, district administrations and the cabinet in this regard, he added.
He also urged the government-run Milk Vita and local milk processing companies including PRAN, Aarong and Akij to increase the purchases from local dairy farmers in this situation.