State-owned Dairy Development Corporation initiated the process to import 30,000 litres of fresh milk daily from Patna Dairy, India after market demand outstripped domestic production.

Corporation officials signed an agreement to import the dairy product during their Patna visit last week.

“Fresh milk will start arriving after a few days,” said Ganesh Kumar Yadav, chief of the Hetauda Dairy Distribution Project. “We have been forced to import milk from India as domestic production is not enough to meet market demand. The milk imported from Patna will be supplied to Kathmandu.”

The industry is in the midst of a milk shortage as the lean season lasts from April to August, and private dairies in Chitwan and Pokhara have also started importing milk from the Indian state of Bihar after receiving the government's okay.

The government corporation has been unable to meet market demand because it is barred from importing milk powder, and private dairies have been luring dairy farmers by paying higher rates for scarce fresh milk.

The Hetauda Dairy Distribution Project, which used to collect 40,000 litres of milk daily during the flush season, has been able to get only 7,000 litres daily against the daily demand of 13,000 litres.

According to Yadav, milk collection will increase gradually from November with the onset of the flush season. To meet demand, the project, which used to sell milk to Biratnagar earlier, has been purchasing 7,000 litres daily from the eastern city.

The project has been selling the milk collected from Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Makwanpur and Biratnagar in Hetauda, Birgunj, Bharatpur and other regional markets.

Seven years ago, the project used to collect 35,000 litres of milk daily from the mid-Tarai and transport it to Kathmandu. Currently, it is able to collect only 7,000 litres daily from 160 milk cooperatives in Bara, Rautahat, Sarlahi and Makwanpur.

Private dairies that purchase milk from farmers by paying more than the project have also shrunk the state-run dairy's market.

Previously, Makwanpur and other cities in the mid-plains witnessed production of around 50,000 litres even in the lean season. But the milk produced during the winter season is now purchased by private dairies at higher rates.

Also, despite an increase in the number of farmers engaging in livestock farming in recent years, the quantity of milk procured by the project has not increased.

The market for the government-run dairy has shrunk as farmers either sell the milk themselves or sell it to dairy cooperatives which have mushroomed in the milk producing regions.

According to dairy cooperatives, a hike in the price of fodder has made it unprofitable for livestock farmers to sell their products to the state-owned dairy.

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