Milk Sales Drop By 80 Percent During Lockdown
June 1, 2020 | Investopaper
The government is celebrating the 10th International Milk Day with the slogan ‘Let’s consume milk regularly, increase immunity’. World Food Program started celebrating World Milk Day since June 1, 2001. Nepal has been celebrating World Milk Day for the past nine years under the coordination of the National Dairy Development Board.
In the context of the lack of a cure for Covid-19 (Corona virus), which is currently spreading as an epidemic in the world, regular consumption of milk and dairy products is a great option to fight the disease and keep the body healthy.
According to Nepal’s food regulations, standard processed milk should contain 3 percent fat and 8 percent non-fat solids. Standard processed milk contains 3.0 percent fat, 4.7 percent lactose and 3.5 percent protein. This gives about 60 calories per 100 grams of processed milk.
The country produces an average of 6.2 million liters of milk daily. Out of this, 3.1 million liters of milk is sold in the market. Farmers consume the another 3.1 million liters of milk themselves. Out of the 3.1 million milk sold in the market, the dairy industry consumes about 17 percent in the formal sector. The remaining 33 percent is sold informally in various ways in the open market. Prior to the lockdown, Rs. 50 million was flowing daily from urban to rural areas both formally and informally. At present, the market for milk sales has dropped by 80 percent, said Prahlad Dahal, general secretary of the Dairy Association. Currently, milk sales have dropped to 25 percent.
