Myagdi dairy farmers hit hard by lockdown

BENI, March 31: The ongoing lockdown has delivered a severe blow to dairy farmers in Myagdi who rely on selling milk.

Owner of Bardan Livestock Farm in Beni municipality-6, Basnkot Durga Prasad Poudel has been forced to feed 50-liters of milk a day to his buffalos itself.

As most of the people staying at their rented rooms went to their villages following the lockdown order, he can hardly sell 200 liters a day. “Due to this, I have to bear a loss of Rs 14,000 a day,” Poudel  lamented adding, “I feed 50 liters to the buffalos.”

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According to him, they are going to suffer huge losses due to the lockdown and some of the dairy farmers may give up their businesses soon. 

A technician at livestock service center Subash Regmi echoed Poudel. He claimed that milk worth thousands of rupees is going to waste during the lockdown, which entered its eighth day today. The lockdown has been enforced as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus. 

“We can do nothing except for witnessing the situation silently,” he said.

According to him, only 40 percent milk is being produced individually by farmers and those affiliated to an agricultural group in Beni municipality. He said, “About 1000 and 1500 liters of milk is produced on a daily basis by the farmers through agro group and individually respectively.”