Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
Sweetmeat shops in the city are caught in a bind as they are unable to make several varieties of sweets besides paneer (cottage cheese) due to scarcity of milk.
Umlyngka Primary Milk Producers Co-operative Society president P R Kharbteng admitted that milk cannot be arranged for distribution in Shillong as there is scarcity while stating there is a need to expand dairy farming.
“We need people to take up dairy farming. It will be good if people come forward and add to the milk production,” he said.
He said that the Society supplies milk to Nari which then supplies milk in the city.
It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, recently said that close to two—and-a-half lakh MT of milk is required whereas the supply meets only about 50-60 per cent adding that there is a huge market in the state.
The government also has a Meghalaya Milk Mission which provides loans with subsidy for 2000 dairy farmers, to provide milk testing machines and chilling units for societies to ascertain that the milk sent to the market is clean, to provide different breed of cattle with better milk production, to encourage community ranches for easier management of cattle, to provide feed and encourage planting of fodder for the dairy cattle especially during lean period and to guide farmers to keep proper breeding records for their cows for better yield in the future.