The government aims to double the local fresh milk production to meet 80 percent of the country’s consumption by 2024, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced in Parliament yesterday.
He said that only 40 percent of the country’s annual milk requirement is sourced from local dairy farms and the balance milk requirement is imported as milk powder and liquid milk.
The Minister of Agriculture, Mahindananda Aluthgamage assured that the government was not prepared to import foreign cattle, which was a failed method.
However, he noted that the government is only allocating required lands for the private sector that is ready to import 10,000 cattle.
Further, Aluthgamage also clarified the current status of the decision to ban cattle slaughter initiated by Prime Minister Rajapaksa.
In regard to this, he said that discussions are underway to start the process by aggregating male cattle at the National Livestock Board farms.