Imported milk costlier

We had been importing milk worth around Tk 100 crore per annum, but now it has come down, as more local dairy farms are distributing fresh liquid milk in polybags, and these are now available at more retail outlets including the groceries.

Surely we can save some foreign exchange if the rural milk could be marketed more easily through co-operative marketing networks. But the co-op system suffers from high systems losses, as the office-bearers do not get enough high-level backing to help the rural small dairies (the old story of too much centralisation at the urban centres -- whither the local councils?).

There are several areas which need reinforcing: financial banking at the production stage; mini cold-storage centres deep in the rural interiors (use solar power kits); subsidised transportation; and farmer-friendly marketing arrangement. All the components must work simultaneously for marked effect on the market.

The poultry and the fish farms are now established, but marketing is still a problem (controlled by middlemen or cartels). The rural systems configurations are still weak in most outputs coming to the urban market. The well-established NGO net can help in a big way, subject to ifs and buts.

Food for children must be cheap for the middle and lower classes.