Price increase of cow feed worried farmers in Ishwardi

Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :

Noorunnahar Begum is a farmer with multiple national medals. Her farm yields 7-8 maunds of milk per day and also has a cow fattening scheme.

She said, due to the increase in the price of cow feed, now I sell one cow every month to pay the unpaid amount of the shop.

I am struggling to keep the farm running and have already sold several cows. So far there has been a loss of two and a half crore taka.

I will not keep more cows on the farm. Although the country has progressed a lot, market monitoring is not being done properly.

Factory owners and traders are benefiting. Farmers and actual producers and end-user consumers she affected at the grass root level.

She said, the rate at which the price of cow-food has increased, the price of milk has not increased.

In the meantime, milk collection companies including Milkvita have reduced milk collection and the crisis has increased.

Farmers said that they are in dire straits as the price of cow food has increased 5-6 times in ten years.

Ten years ago, one kg of wheat husk was Tk 8-10. Now a kg of that bark is 60-62 taka. The price of one Khesari Bhushi is now 1 thousand 400 Tk. Earlier farmers did not buy this husk.

The price of straw is now 500 taka. Hay is again measured at 30-32 kg. Accordingly, the price of 1 kg of straw is 15 taka. Jambu grass has to be bought at the rate of Tk 300 per percent of land.

The cost of Napier grass is Tk. 400 per cent.

If the price of cow fodder is not reduced or the cow fodder is not given to the farmers at subsidized price, it will be impossible for them to keep the farm.

Farmers also said that milk processing companies are the main source of trust.

But these institutions are not giving the right price of milk. Although the price has increased slightly, these companies have reduced the purchase of milk from farmers on the pretext of reduced demand.

Farmers claim that the price of cow feed has doubled and the production cost of milk has fallen to Tk. 70 per liter.

But the milk processing companies are paying around 50 taka per liter of milk.

Amirul Islam, owner of the national medal winning Tanmoy Dairy Farm, has 95 cows in his farm. Milk is 450-500 liters per day.

Apart from Milk Vita, he sells milk at the price of Tk 70 per liter in the local market.

He said, if the farm depends on the cattle food bought in the market, it will never be profitable.

Must be dependent on grass production and grass. Cow food bought from the market will not be tolerated.

We have to adopt the way to reduce the price of cow food instead of the common saying that the price of milk is low and the price of cow food is high.

Upazila Livestock Officer Dr. Nazmul Hossain said that there are more than 1 lakh 2 thousand cows in farms 3 thousand in Ishwardi.

Out of this, there are 1 thousand 52 cow farms. Cow farms produce about 140,000 liters of milk per day.

He said that there are more farms and a large number of cows beyond this estimate.

Stating that the price of grain food is high, he said, there is nothing to be done locally about giving subsidy.

It is a matter for policy makers to consider.

In order to adjust the cost of fodder, cultivation of improved varieties of grass is being encouraged.