Milk production in Kerala hit by FMD

Kozhikode: The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle has hit milk production in the state. According to sources with the Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (MILMA), on an average the production has declined by 50,000 litres/day in the past few days. The average production of MILMA was 9 50,000 litres/ day.

Wayanad Dairy Development Officer Jose Emmanuel told DC that due to the outbreak of the disease, it failed to achieve the expected target of 1.80 lakh litres this year.

Going by the milk production data of Wayanad district, there has been an increase in production by 20,000 litres this year compared to the previous year.

“But, I don’t think we will be able to reach the target of 1.80 lakh litres planned earlier”, he said.

The increase in production was expected due to factors such as new schemes, mechanized farms, and purchase of more productive cattle.

“Now, we own cows that produce 39-35 litres per day while it was 10-15 litres/ day before”, he said. “Although we expected an average of 1.80 litres/ day, we could only achieve 1.6 lakh litres/ day”, he explained.

However, he also opined that Wayanad may be the least affected district in the state.  According to data available with the Chief Veterinary office in Kozhikode, the disease has been reported from 54 places in Kozhikode, of which 16 cases were reported from within the Corporation limit.