Got milk?: City needs cattle colonies to meet its dairy demand

PFA says 40 per cent of the milk in the city is adulterated

LAHORE:

Punjab Food Authority has recommended that the government establish cattle colonies and dairy villages to meet Lahore’s demand for good quality milk.

An official of the authority, who requested anonymity because he was unauthorised to speak to media, told The Express Tribune that around 40 per cent of the loose milk supplied in the city was mixed with other liquids. He said the demand for milk outstripped the supply of milk by a wide margin.

He said some criminal elements mixed harmful chemicals in milk to enhance its appearance and quantity.

Authority officials said the daily demand for loose milk in the city was about 2.6 million litres, out of which 1.5 million litres was supplied by milkmen from as far as Sahiwal, Nankana Sahib and Sargodha. They said 1.1 million litres was supplied by milkmen in peri-urban areas.



They said the demand for milk rose in summers. “Supply becomes scarce and many farmers add water and formalin to the milk they sell,” an official said. Some also mixed urea fertiliser and detergent in it, he said.

The authority collected 3,150 samples of milk between January and September, of them, 1,959 samples contained traces of urea, formalin, detergent and canal water.

Officials said milkmen often put ice in milk to prevent it from going bad, but that too was often contaminated.

The authority has recommended a cold chain including vehicles with chillers and generators to supply milk to the city. The idea is to regulate the supply of milk to prevent adulteration.

Officials said that the government should encourage the dairy sector by establishing cooperatives for dairy farming and encouraging the private sector to breed quality cattle.

They said that the government should make it mandatory for shopkeepers to sell boiled milk.

They said cattle colonies and dairy villages, like the ones in Karachi, are a viable long-term solution. This will help farmers and the government meet the demand for milk. They said the waste produced by cattle could be used to produce energy (bio-gas) and fertiliser. They said Karachi had 100,000 animals in its cattle colonies. It was planning on setting up a dairy village on 1,300 acres at a cost of Rs1.195 billion in the current financial year.

Though, Lahore did have a few cattle colonies – Harbanspura, Rakh Chandra, Tokhar Niaz Beg, Kamahn Pind, Bund Road, Chungi Amar Sidhu and Shadara Town – but they had not been organised on scientific lines and the average production of milk per animal was very low. They said these colonies could also supply good quality meat to the city.

PFA Director General Asad Aslam Mahni said only a long term solution could ensure supply of quality milk to consumers. He said the authority was working hard to take action against milkmen involved in adulteration. He said as many as 1,600 milk shops in the city were registered with the authority. Big cattle colonies and dairy villages could effectively help fill the demand and supply gap for milk, Mahni said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2014.