Adnan Dairy Farm in Dakshinpara of Bera Municipality in Pabna has 11 cows. Out of those, five cows are giving milk regularly. Abdul Awal, owner of the farm, said that he spends Tk 400 per day on food for each of the cows.

Each of the cows gives seven to eight liters of milk daily on average. The milk is being sold at Tk 50 to Tk 55 per litre. Daily expenses of nurturing cattle have now gone beyond his limit.

But cows milk is being sold in Dhaka at Tk 120 per litre. The difference of milk price in only 150 kilometers is about Tk 70 per litre. Due to this difference of prices, the farmers are facing losses while buyers have to pay higher price than usual. Not only milk, but also there are huge gaps of price for the eggs, chicken, beef, meat and fish.

According to the experts, the difference of price in rural and urban areas is happening due to unfair market management.

Renowned Economist Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad told the Daily Observer, “It is not possible to manage the fair market due to some syndicates. Extortion on the streets should be stopped. Traders should stop hoarding. If the law is not enforced, the market will not be fair. Due to lack of a fair market system the prices of goods are not decreasing. Law enforcement in other countries has brought prices down. Therefore, laws must also be applied.

He urged the government to come forward with sincerity to ensure fair market management.

Meanwhile, the Livestock and Dairy Development project has created 5,500 producer groups for fair market management.

LDDP Director Md Abdur Rahim said that there is a plan to create another 1,000 producer groups of more dairy producers across the country to ensure fair market management system and development of dairy farmers.

He said, farmers are being trained through PG Groups and Farmers Field School. An important part of the training is the business plan.

He said, “Farmers are learning a lot of issues in the dairy sector. They know how to do marketing, revenue generation. By doing this, the marketers techniques are known. They are being trained on the value chain. A group consists of 40 members. Due to this, their financial capacity is increasing. They are saving from Tk100 to Tk 500 per month.”

It is known that the government has opened a bank account with Tk 10,000.

According to sources, the LDDP is scheduled to be implemented in 466 upazilas of 12 districts of the country (excluding three districts in hill tracts) from 2019 to October 2025. The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has started the implementation of a project titled “The Livestock and Dairy Development Project (LDDP)” under the Directorate of Livestock with funding from the World Bank.

The original cost of the project was Tk 4,280.36 crore and the implementation period was from January 2019 to December 2023. In the revised proposal, the cost of the project has been increased from Tk 1,095 crore to Tk 5,389.92 crore. And the period has been extended by 22 months till October 2025.

Mostaque Khan, President, Birhatabo Dairy Producer Group told the Daily Observer, “At present, the prices of milk at Rupganj in Narayanganj Tk 70 to Tk 80 per litre. But in Dhaka, one litre of milk is selling at Tk 120.

The difference in milk price per litre is Tk 40 to Tk 50 at a distance of just 30 kilometers. If we had had fair market management, we would have got a higher price for milk.”

He said, “Farmers are facing a lot of losses due to absence of fair market management. Many times we have to sell milk and other products at a loss.”

The main cow milk producing areas of the country are formed with Bera, Santhia, Faridpur, Bhangura, Chatmohar and Shahjadpur, Ullapara, Chauhali, Tarash upazilas of Sirajganj. About 1.5 million people here are involved in the dairy industry.

According to the Livestock Office, more than 25,000 farms in this area produce about 1 million litres of cow milk every day. From this area, public and private organizations collect and process liquid milk and sell it in the open market across the country.

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