http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=8&id=59328&date=2009-09-18&PHPSESSID=ba2dafef292dd21f18146e8b6a6ba759
Prospects of diary farms brighter in northern districts
by Mamun Islam
RANGPUR, Bangladesh, Sept 18 (BSS) – The dairy sector, having huge prospects, can bring about a revolutionary change in the socio- economic condition of the poor by alleviating poverty and eradicating monga in poverty-prone greater Rangpur and Dinajpur districts.
For this, proper exploration of the prevailing prospects of dairy farm sector is must through setting up of related industries to usher in a new era for overall economic advancements to ensure smooth developments and building a digital Bangladesh.
Leaders of the Chambers of Commerce and Industries of these districts told BSS that enormous prospects are there in the dairy farm sector and asked all concerned for taking necessary steps towards this direction.
Thousands litres of milk are being produced daily in all eight districts including the monga-prone vast char areas and lack of adequate marketing facilities and milk processing industries are hindering desired growth of the sector.
Setting up of more dairy farms, milk processing and chilling factories could contribute a lot in changing the economic conditions of the common people and alleviating poverty and eradicating monga once for all, they added.
Presently, the private sector Rangpur Dairy (RD) Milk Processing Factory at Boldipukur near the Rangpur-Dhaka highway in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur has created huge job opportunity for hundreds of abject poverty-stricken people to change their fates.
The factory authorities have taken up comprehensive steps with a view to supporting the poor through providing them cows on easy terms and conditions to produce milk at home for their financial well being.
While talking to BSS, Manager of RD Factory Ashraful Alam said hundreds of cows have so far been distributed among the poor of Shalaipur, Muradpur and adjoining villages in the upazila under a massive plan of distributing thousands of cows in future.
“We are planning for boosting dairy sector and we do not only think about business and trade but also want to make the poor people self-reliant through expanding their income- generating facilities through participatory business,” he added.
The beneficiaries have to pay the actual price of the cows by supplying milk to the factories for a certain period till the price of the cows is realized when the RD Factory authorities will transfer the ownership of the cows to them, he added.
“We took two cows with calves from RD Factory and they are giving sufficient milk a day to earn huge money daily,” said villagers Alam Mia and his wife like other successful beneficiaries who have changed their fates during the past couple of years.
“We have overcome monga in recent years very successfully through selling milk that we got from the cows to RD Factory though it was very difficult for us to earn livelihoods by selling labour though there is no monga now,” Amena Begum of village Shalaipur said.
While narrating about the economic impacts of the factory, its Managing Director Fakhruzzaman said that dairy farmers in the whole district are being benefited by selling milk to RD Factory side by side with the beneficiaries of the industry.
Dairy farmers, who were in distress and frustration in the district and were about to close their farms due to frequent loss even a few years back, are now getting profit by selling their produced milk to the RD Factory.
Officials told BSS that the RD Factory has been producing now a huge quantity of quality pasteurized milk and milk juice with fruit flavours and supplies the products to the northern districts and capital city of Dhaka as the business was growing faster.
“We have a comprehensive plan to turn the RD Factory into one of the biggest milk processing industries of the country through involving over 30,000 people of Rangpur and its adjoining districts in the region in near future,” they added.
We are producing butter and sweets as quality RD products by setting up necessary infrastructures using quality equipments and machineries and we could do better if there were gas supply and smooth electricity here,” they said.
They said that the overall production costs of all products could be reduced by and large and even up to fifty per cent if there were supply of natural gas and uninterrupted power supply though we frequently incur losses due to power scarcity.
Appreciating the successes of the factory so far, local experts said that it is the first ever industry in Rangpur set up with the Equity Entrepreneur Fund of Bangladesh Bank and the factory has been operating very successfully.
Similar industries along with other ones could be set up in greater Rangpur and Dinajpur including the monga-prone vast areas to usher in a new era in economic development of the whole region by attracting the local and foreign investors, they said.
