The government is going to declare milk as the thrust sector in a bid to make it self-sufficient and hasten poverty alleviation in rural Bangladesh, State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak said yesterday.
“We will decide on the matter prior to consulting with the industries ministry,” he said.
He was speaking at the 32nd annual general meeting of the Bangladesh Milk Producers' Cooperatives Union Limited (Milk Vita), a cooperative under the LGRD ministry, at the Institution of Diploma Engineers auditorium in Dhaka.
Under a 15-year strategic plan, the government will help Milk Vita with budgetary allocation in setting up milk cooling centres at every upazila in the country, Nanak said.
Milk Vita is the largest milk producer in the country. In 2008-09, it collected over 6.56 crore litres of milk from 1,82,974 members. It produces and markets various dairy products, recording a net profit figure worth Tk 15.75 crore last fiscal year.
Nanak, also the organising secretary of Awami League, said the government will help Milk Vita to set up plants for pasteurisation, producing milk powder, ice creams and baby food in divisional towns and other potential points.
Concerned authorities would also be notified of imposing higher taxes and other strict rules on the import of foreign milk powder and dairy products, to help develop the milk sector, he said.
“We will soon activate the Bangladesh Dairy Development Council to promote the milk sector,” the state minister said.
Many members of Milk Vita present at the meeting placed demands on the government to keep anomalies of the cooperative unions under check and ensure the interests of its primary members.
“In the face of corruption, the parliamentary standing committee will go there and, if necessary, take legal action to combat it,” said Advocate Rahmat Ali, chairman of parliamentary standing committee on LGRD and cooperatives ministry.
Milk Vita's Acting General Manager Dr MA Barik in his report said it would set up 16 milk factories this year and take initiatives to import developed species of cows from Australia and the US to increase yield.
He proposed that the government provide assistance worth Tk 100 crore under the 'One Home One Farm' programme to Milk Vita, to increase milk production in the country.
Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Secretary Samar Chandra Pal and Department of Cooperatives Registrar Surayia Begum also spoke.