"Doodh Cha?"--Got Milk? --Part Three

I cannot believe this story posted here (Click Here) at Nepalnews.com and here (Click here) at MyRepublica.com! Are these officials serious when they justify the business venture of one man as "solution to the shortage of milk in the nation?" Call it what it is—a business expansion of a man (which I have no problem with) who has developed enough following from the Nepali population--now he wants to sell them his products, apparently made from dung and urine. That's right, dung and urine! 


Let us do the numbers...


The article in MyRepublica points out that the total number of milk producing cows and buffaloes currently stand under a million and 1.25 million, respectively. They also point out that only 15% of the milk is sold through formal markets. With the stated 400,000 liters of milk supply everyday in the nation, back of the envelope calculation spits out about 1.2 liters per cow per day. Now, let us accept the assertion that the donated cows will be highly productive than the current stock and will provide us with double the current amount—which comes out to about 2.4 liters per cow per day. With 50, 000 cows that is an increase of 120,000 liters per day, with an overall supply of 520,000 liters of milk per day. To be sure, this will help ease some of the shortage issues in the nation, but it is hardly enough to meet the industry stated demand of 800,000 liters per day. 


NepalNews points out that "the high breed cows being gifted by Ramdev, founder of Patanjali Yoga Peeth, will be used for acquiring dung and urine for the proposed drug company (see, I told you--a business venture) which can, with the aid of the cows, produce up to 22 litres of milk per day" I do not know where the 22 liters came from, however, if this number is true then these cows will add more than one million liters, which will not only solve the shortage issue but actually create a surplus! My head hurts....


The article points out that “State-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC), which commands more than 40 percent share in the domestic dairy market, has been importing around 40,000 liters of milk per day from India´s Bihar state. Similarly, big private dairies, which are running under 50 percent of their installed capacity due to shortage of fresh milk, are also sourcing weighing the possibility of sourcing fresh milk from the northern neighbor.”


Again, I have written a couple of posts before on this topic (Doodh Cha--Got Milk & Got Milk-Part Deux), where I have argued that this is a problem created mainly due to the direct involvement of the government in the production and distribution of milk. The government should limit its involvement to quality control of dairy products and move away from direct involvement in production. This will assure private investors of fair and free competition in the future, thus acting as an impetus for investment.


What's this proposed drug company? hmmm...