Supply of several essential things is running low due to the nationwide lockdown, till April, 14. Now milk producers of the State are facing big crisis of animal feed and other necessary items which are not available in markets.
Though dairy and milk goods, selling animal fodder fall under essential services according to Home Ministry guidelines, the Lockdown has hit their daily routine and transportation of fodder and cattle feed to the markets.
The milk producers and sellers of the State are mostly dependent on other states for animal feed. Fodder mostly used to come from Bihar, but due to the lockdown the suppliers of fodder are facing big problem to supply fodder from the State. During the first week of the lockdown very few trucks of fodder came to the State which caused huge scarcity for the fodder among dairy farm owners. Some days later some more trucks of fodder started coming in the State but it is not enough to fulfill demand.
Ramchandra Ray, a resident of Kanke Road, who has seven cows and four buffaloes, informed that he is facing very tough time now a days as cattle have started giving less milk than earlier due to scarcity of fodder and other cattle feed. Now another difficulty came forward to keep them alive on less diet of fodder, he added.
Ray and other dairy farmers have requested the State Government to ensure availability and supply of cattle feed during the lockdown period.
In a video conferencing with Union Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, Jharkhand Agriculture Minister, Badal recently said that before imposition of lockdown 13,0000 liters of milk had been procured per day by the Jharkhand Milk Federation but currently only 35,000liters of milk is being sold, the remaining milk needs to be distributed among the poor for which Rs 12 crore is required to given to milk federations every month.
In other part of the State the situation for milk producer is also similar in cities like Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur and others. In these cities a large numbers of residents are settled from other states.