UNP Chairman says govt. plan to achieve self-sufficiency in milk a pipedream

The Government would never be able to achieve its target of making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in milk, UNP Chairman and former minister Wajira Abeywardena says.Addressing a meeting held at the UNP Galle District office on Monday, Abeywardena said: “This is a country with 2,500-year-old Buddhist values and it would not be possible for a government to make this country self-sufficient by promoting dairy farming. The existing number of milch cows produced only 15 percent of the country’s milk requirement. Killing cows is not permitted in Buddhist values. We need one million milch cows to obtain the national requirement of milk. One milch cow may live 14 to 15 years. If they give birth to calves five to six times, what would be the number of their population? Countries such as New Zealand and Australia engaged in dairy industry obtain 50 percent income from milk, while the balance is from beef. In countries where the industry is thriving, they kill the calves within 24 hours of their birth and process it for veal. The cows are sent to be milked to make milk-powder and fresh milk. If many Buddhists know this sad story they would not drink milk-powder,” the UNP Chairman said. He said that the foreign dairy industries also use the hides of those animals to sell to the leather industry. “This country would not be able to convert to that situation ever. Therefore the ministers talking of making the country self-sufficient in milk are actually joking,” Abeywardena said. The meeting was held as a part of the UNP’s party reorganization campaign and attended by UNP activists in Akmeemana, Galle, and Habaraduwa.