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Milk supplies: rational approach needed
SIRAJ-UL-HASAN
ARTICLE (November 15 2002) : Is it not sad that a country like Pakistan, having adequate milk resources, has been importing substantial volumes of powdered milk spending a lot of valuable foreign exchange? Even, during FY 01, milk and cream valued at dollar 10.8 million were imported.
This situation has arisen due to the non-exploitation of inaccessible milk pockets in the remote interior for obtaining milk to plug the gap between availability and requirements rather than importing powdered milk.
Milk, unlike many other food items, is an essential item of food consumption more so for infants, children and aged persons. But government authorities have not so far adopted a rational approach in this regard.
Milk production is an important economic activity. Buffaloes, cows, goats and sheep contribute to milk production in varying volumes.
Input-wise milk production is less intensive and as an enterprise crop it is second to wheat.
The production and consumption of milk are characterised considerably by seasonal variations. Its production is at its maximum during the winter months and at a minimum in the summer when temperature is high and fodder limited. By contrast, milk consumption is at its peak in the summers. Buffalo milk is generally preferred to other milch animals milk and make up most of the milk production.
Total milk production in the country is about 26.3 thousand tonnes. Buffaloes and cows contribute about 70 and 22 percent respectively while the remaining 8 percent is derived from goat, sheep and camels. About 20 percent of total supplies comes from urban production units and the bulk (80 percent) from rural small holders.
The per capita consumption of raw milk is much higher in rural area than urban. But the processed LHT (Ultra High Temperature) milk amounting to about 80,000 tonnes annually or about only 3 percent of overall marketed raw milk, is consumed totally by the urban households.
Total milk production has not increased over years as it should have been in view of various incentives provided by the government. It increased by 2.5 percent to 26.3 thousand tonnes in FY 01 as against 25.6 thousand tonnes in FY 00.
Major production and marketing constraints include (i) increasing cost of production (ii) spread of diseases amongst the herds owned by urban producers, (iii) low nutritional value of feed, (iv) seasonal fluctuations in demand and supply and (it) limited storage life of fluid milk.
In the consumption of processed UHT milk, the consumer's unawareness of its quality is the greatest constraint.
Due to highly perishable nature of fluid milk and limited movement of rural milk to urban centres for want of quick transport facilities, hardly half of the milk production of the milk-rich pockets situated in the interior, reaches the urban centres.
The remaining half production of fluid milk is, per force, converted into more durable products (such as ghee, cream, khoya etc). Such conversion, at the present level of price, results in progressive loss at each conversion. As such a true picture of the liquid milk consumption is not possible to be arrived at. However, it works out to 106 litres per head per annum as against 130 litres in USA, 132 litres in Sweden, 140 litres in Australia and 188 litres in UK.
The above distressing state of the situation suggests that an elaborate study may be undertaken to identify the causes which hampers the free movement of fluid milk from the producing areas to the consuming centres and indicate the ways and means that may be adopted for the full exploitation of the resources presently available. Such a study may also work out the input-output ratio of increasing the milk production. Even, otherwise, the utilisation of what is available, must be given due priority.
Grading and standardisation: For proper marketing of fluid milk it is also considered necessary that like many other livestock products, milk should also be classified into different grades in accordance with butter fat and other quality characteristics.
For this purpose, it is suggested that a team of milk technologists drawing from all the four provinces may be sent to Canada which in its province of Ontario had drastically changed the system of marketing of fluid milk through its classification into two broad categories viz. "industrial milk and table milk."
Industrial milk is defined as the milk that is used in manufacturing of various milk products like butter, roller powder, spray whole milk powder, cheese and skimmed milk etc.
The table milk is just unprocessed raw milk but duly cooled, meant for drinking purposes.The above two broad classified categories are further split up into two grades, Grade I and Grade II each specifying its extent of butter fat.
If such a scientific system of marketing and grading milk and its products is introduced in Pakistan, it will go a long way to benefit the producers, traders and consumers and ultimately the country at large.
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com;
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