Fiji lagging behind in raw milk production – Sachida Nand

Fiji produces approximately half of the 21 million litres of liquid milk consumed annually in Fiji.

This was revealed during the Fiji Institute of Agricultural Science Symposium yesterday by the Cooperative Dairy Company Limited Chief Executive Officer Sachida Nand.

Nand said there are 9,555 productive cows in Fiji where there are 5,319 milking cows and 4,236 dry cows.

He added the Western Division product has declined due to the dry season.

Nand said despite having such a large stock, Fiji is still lagging behind in terms of raw milk production.

He said Fiji has managed to maintain raw milk production at around 10 million litres, this means that consumers’ demand for the product is increasing, thus, is the need to import.

He added the latest government initiative of free milk for class one students will see an increase in demand for milk.

He said these are opportunities for the industry.

Nand said we do not need big farms but what we need is efficient farms and this is only possible when all stakeholders work together with a single goal of increasing raw milk production in Fiji.

Meanwhile, they have 18,000 dairy animals in the Central Division and it is assumed that an equal number or more is in the Western Division.