Dairy farms sprouting around Dhaka

Many Dhaka residents are well aware about the milkman, known as "goala" in Bangla, who delivers fresh milk to their doorsteps on a daily basis.

They collect milk from nearby dairy farms before making their rounds each day. However, some customers go the extra mile to ensure that they get unadulterated products by visiting the farms themselves.

In response to this increased demand for fresh, pure milk, a number of dairy farmers have set up small shops right at the farm gates to sell their products.

Md Haleem, a dairy farmer at Zoo Road in Mirpur, is one of them. He sells milk every day directly from his farm comprising 22 cows.

Sales have been increasing gradually over the last one decade, said Haleem, who inherited the business from his grandfather.

Besides, the price has risen as well during the same period to hit Tk 90 per litre from Tk 60 per litre about 10 years ago, he added.

Haleem is one of nearly 2,000 dairy farmers who have emerged in various pockets of Dhaka, such as Sutrapur, Lalbagh and its bordering localities, namely Keraniganj, to cater to the growing demand for milk among residents and sweetmeat shops.

Cattle farming has also expanded in the past couple of years alongside milk production, according to data from the Department of Livestock Services (DLS).

Overall milk production grew three and a half times to nearly 1.20 crore tonnes in fiscal 2020-21 from just 34.6 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2011-12.

And although Haleem's farm has grown with the passage of time, it is now unable to cater to the increasing demand for milk since it lacks the space for expansion.

Haleem has 60 permanent buyers apart from some local sweetmeat makers who purchase his milk at Tk 90 per litre, 20 per cent more than the cost of pasteurised milk sold by major milk processors such as state-run Milk Vita.

He said milk prices have also gone up because of increased livestock feed prices and other operational costs.

Local residents as well as residents of Uttara, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and Farmgate are buyers of milk from this farm.

"Earlier, we used to sell milk only in plastic bottles. Now, we are selling milk packaged in transparent polythene," he said.

While Haleem is selling milk directly from his farm, Abul Khair, owner of a dairy farm at Ati Bazar in Keraniganj, Dhaka, has been selling milk from his farm at Mohammadpur Town Hall market through a store called Satata Enterprise for several years.

The farm has 24 cows and Khair sells 100 litres of milk daily. Some days the volume goes up to as much as 150 litres. His price is Tk 80 per litre.

"Our milk sales have increased a bit in the last one year," he said, "Local residents are our main buyers."

He also sells ghee.

Mohammad Shah Emran, general secretary of Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association, said dairy farming has been expanding around Dhaka city.

"There is high demand for fresh milk," he said, adding that sales in milk producing pockets were increasing day by day.

Reputed brands separate cream after collecting milk from the farm, a process the farms themselves cannot do.

"So, this is the reason for the increasing demand for fresh milk at the farm gate," Emran added.

Kamruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing at Pran-RFL Group, which processes milk, said farms have been set up in various parts of Dhaka and its adjacent areas but these have been developed in a scattered manner.

The milk produced in these farms is directly consumed. There are big farms that make sweets of their own. As a result, they usually do not have surplus milk, he said.

However, Kamal went on to say that there was a hygiene issue and proper quality control is necessary.

"We need at least 5,000 litres of milk for our milk collection tankers to go and collect milk from a place. Any less would not be viable for us," he added.

Emran said dairy farmers around Dhaka city do not have to face any hassle to market and sell milk whereas small farmers in different parts of the country have to face such troubles.

He said maintaining hygiene was a very difficult task but farm owners should focus on marketing management.

"This is a sector with potent. If the government supports such farmers, they will be able to give more importance to milk processing," Emran said.