The adverse weather condition and rising fuel costs experienced in the country is taking its toll on the dairy industry with farmers reporting a significant drop in milk production.
A third-generation local dairy farmer, Harvindar Singh of J Singh Dairy farm in Waimaro, Naitasiri, said milk production at his farm had dropped over the years, attributed to the bad weather, rise in costs of feeds, labour and fuel.
Mr Singh has around 850 cows on his farm, of which 200 cows are milked daily.
Previously, he said they used to produce around 1600 litres of milk a day whereas now they were only producing around 1300 litres of milk a day.
“The cold weather has affected production, but the biggest challenge is the increasing cost of running the farm,” Mr Singh said in an interview.
He said the cost of feed, fuel, transport, labour and farm supplies had increased sharply in recent years as well.
“We are paying labourers the minimum wage of around $40 a day, and apart from that, we provide them with a cottage to stay and farm clothes.
“In terms of feed, a bag of copra which used to cost around $8 previously is almost $30 now. For fuel, I used to spend around $5000 a month, which has doubled to $10,000 now.”
Mr Singh said despite those increasing costs, dairy farmers received only about $1.07 a litre for milk after processing, which he added was no longer sustainable.
He said farmers should receive between $1.50 to $1.80 per litre.
Mr Singh said his farm had already reduced staff from about 25 workers to 15 employees now because of higher operating costs.
He added that income from the family’s trucking business and livestock operation helped to keep the dairy business running.
He said long-term solutions were still needed, such as higher farmgate milk prices and continued government support.
Ravindra Prasad of Nandan’s Dairy farm in Viria Naitasiri echoed a similar sentiment saying that production had also dropped for his farm because of the cold and wet weather. He said his farm now produced around 150 to 160 litres of milk daily compared to 200 litres previously. He said the cost of operating cost have also doubled, with feed expenses having increased from $150 to $300 weekly, and fuel costs from $100 to $200 weekly.
Tomasi Lord of J Singh Dairy Farm in Waimaro, Naitasiri prepares the cows for milking. Picture: SUPPLIED
