India to provide technical assistance to uplift local milk production

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a committee consisting of representatives of the public and private sectors of Sri Lanka to work with the multidisciplinary team of the National Dairy Development Board of India to prepare a short, medium and long-term plan to increase local milk production to reduce the country’s dependence on imported milk powder.

Accordingly, India’s National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Indian Amul Milk Company have taken steps to provide the necessary technical support for the production of liquid milk in Sri Lanka, and a preliminary discussion was held in this regard at the Presidential Secretariat today (Dec. 05) under the chairmanship of President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

It has been discussed at length about doubling local milk production by implementing short and medium-term plans and making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in milk in the long run through a targeted program.

Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Nimal Samaranayake, Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board, Professor H.W. Cyril and other committee members and officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and line agencies, Indian National Dairy Development Board Senior General Manager Rajesh Onkarnath Gupta, General Manager Sunil Shivprasad Sinha, Senior Manager Rajesh Kumar Sharma and other representatives participated in this discussion, according to the PMD.