The eastern hill district Dhankuta produced 13,000 tonnes of milk worth Rs520 million in the last fiscal year ending mid-July, as more farmers took up commercial dairy farming.

Most of the farmers are rearing cattle breeds that have high yields. The district produces high value products like cheese and chhurpy.

According to District Livestock Services Office, in the previous fiscal year, the district had produced 12,500 tonnes of milk worth Rs500 million. “The ongoing flush season is seeing an output of 20 tonnes daily,” said Jhabindra Marasini, the district livestock veterinarian. More than 80 percent of milk produced in Dhankuta is supplied to other districts.

Last year, the district earned Rs292 million from milk sales. With the increased milk production, the district has seen development of new factories producing dairy products like ghee, cheese and chhurpy. The Livestock Services Office statistics show that the district produced dairy products worth Rs28.8 million in the last fiscal year. “The demand for dairy products has been growing. However, we are unable to meet the demand,” said Lekhnath Rijal, manager of Nissan Dairy Industry in Dhankuta-1. He said that the government has not launched programmes to boost dairy production in the district. “As a result, the district has not been able to meet the growing demand for dairy products.”

Currently, there are four factories producing dairy products in the district.  With the increasing population and changing food habits of people in Nepal, demand for milk and milk products has been growing at a steady 4 percent per annum. At present, the country’s dairy sector contributes around 9 percent of the GDP. A total of 950,000 families are estimated to depend on this sector. The dairy industry sees over Rs9 billion flowing from urban to rural areas every year as it has a high rural-urban linkage.