Subsidy brings milk production boost in Syangja

By Our Correspondent,Waling, Aug. 14: Galyang Municipality in Syangja district has recently witnessed an increase in milk production and a surge in the income of local farmers. 

The city is developing itself as a white city and is promoting milk production and marketing as a priority.

The milk produced by the farmers here reaches Butwal in Rupandehi and Pokhara in Kaski along with various markets in the district. 

The production of milk has significantly gone up after the municipality started giving cash subsidies to the farmers based on the production. 

The local body had created a new policy to implement the programme. According to the municipality, in the last Fiscal Year 2023/24, the municipality gave about Rs. 6.5 million in production-based subsidies. 

Farmers have been getting subsidies at the rate of Rs. 15 for every litre of milk. As a result, the farmers are excited to take up the business and increase their production, informed the Mayor of the municipality, Guru Prasad Bhattarai.

About 20 per cent of the milk produced in Galyang is sold in the markets within the district and 80 per cent outside the district. Bhattarai said that more than 2,500 litres of milk is being supplied to other cities daily.

The municipality produced about 432,531 liters of milk in the last FY 2023/24. This is 35,953 litres up compared to the production of FY 2022/23 when it was 396,952 litres. 

There are 12 milk collection centres in the 11 wards of the municipality. According to the city office, the collection centres have been set up for the benefit of the citizens.

Chief Administrative Officer of Galyang, Damodar Sharma, informed that the municipality is paying attention to the promotion of entrepreneurship in agriculture. 

According to him, 993 households are involved in animal husbandry through 13 cooperative organisations and seven buffalo farms. Sharma said that the municipality was working to make agricultural entrepreneurship sustainable. 

Farmer Ishwar Basyal, operator of the Bindhyabasini Agriculture and Animal Farm in Galyang-1 Malunga, has received a grant of Rs. 435,000, said Mahadeb Ban, Chief of the Animal Service Branch of the municipality. 

Similarly, Kaligandaki Dairy Producers' Cooperative in Galyang-11, Jimuwa, received a grant of Rs. 1.31 million. Kaligandaki Dairy had sold 87,386 liters of milk annually. 

Farmers are getting the price of Rs. 75 to 120 per litre of milk. According to the municipality, the price is determined based on the quality of the milk they bring to the cooperative. 

Some farmers are also selling milk in the market. The municipality has been providing Rs. 15 grant for a litre only for the milk sold to the collection centres run by the cooperative.