Sakhigopal: The 40-day nationwide lockdown to curb the rising cases of coronavirus in India has crippled industries across the country.
One of the industries hit the hardest is the dairy sector.
The dairy industry in Satyabadi Block of Puri district has come to a standstill with dairy farmers having to deal with lockdown regulations that have severely impacted their livelihood.
Worried that the cattle may fall sick due to feed shortage, rise in fodder prices and unavailability of forage during the coronavirus lockdown, the traditional dairy farmers in Chandanpur, Sakhigopal, Satasankha, Balapur and Balanga area of the district are waiting for the state government to ease restrictions and help them during this crisis.
Dairy farmers of these areas earn their livelihood by selling milk and milk products like chhena (an Indian cottage cheese), rabdi, khua and paneer to the sweet shop, tea stalls and various mathas and temples of Puri. But all sweet shops and tea stalls are closed following the lockdown guidelines.
“Earlier I was selling 30 litres of milk every day but now in this situation I am able to sell only two to three litres,” said Purnachandra Behera of Anandapur area, a dairy farmer who takes care of three jersey cows in his household.
Bairagi Behera, another dairy farmer, said: “I was providing 50 kg of chhena to the sweet shops, mathas and temples of our area by collecting milks from the other milk farmers.”
“But now I am unable to go outside my home due to the lockdown, and it is very difficult to provide even two square meals a day to my family members without income,” added Bairagi.
Cyclone Fani caused a huge loss to the dairy farmers by destroying their cow sheds in 2019. This time around the farmers had thought of doing good business, but fate has something else in store for them. They are once more staring at heavy losses due to the lockdown.
Though dairy products and shops selling animal fodder fall under essential services according to Home Ministry guidelines, the lockdown has hit their daily routine and transportation of milk to the wholesale markets.
The farmers are throwing away thousands of litres of milk each day.
“We can throw the milk, but we need to keep the cattle alive. In some of the farms, the cattle are in critical condition and not able to get up. How will we feed the cows? The fodder was priced at Rs 1000 before the lockdown and now it has gone up to Rs 1300,” said Dasarathi Behera, another dairy farmer.
“Usually, we milk cows at six in the morning, feed them, clean the barn – but now, we are turning the milk into cream. Till 12 noon, we separate the cream from raw milk. But where will we store it? I have discarded almost 50-60 litres of milk Thursday and the cream will also be wasted,” lamented another dairy farmer, who has never seen such times before.
“The commercial dairy farmers have a proper system – they can preserve the milk in big refrigerators for at least two days,” he added.
Dairy farmers in the district have sought the government’s help for supply of their milk. They have requested the government to ensure availability and supply of cattle feed during the lockdown period.
PNN