Ajab Lal Yadav, general manager of DDC, which is a state-owned dairy producer and distributor, proposed to MoAC to revitalize the loss making government feed producer with necessary investment. But it put a rider: The government should allocate Rs 45 million, which DDC needs to pay its staff in retirement benefit soon.[break]
"We will play a significant role in boosting fresh milk production by producing and supplying nutrient-rich feeds to dairy farmers through our networks in 43 districts if we are given a chance to take over the management of CFPC with additional investment," said Yadav, at a annual progress review meeting at MoAC on Monday. Yadav claimed that DDC is ready to revive CFPC within two or three months.
Uma Kant Jha, secretary at MoAC, said the ministry would study the options to continue CFPC by handing over its management to some other company or closing down its operation permanently. "We are in favor of continuing CFPC if it is possible to turn it into a profitable company. Otherwise, there is no option but to dissolve the loss-making feed producer," said Jha.
Meanwhile, unable to withstand rising competition from private producers, CFPC has asked for an additional investment of Rs 60 million that would ramp up the production capacity to 150 tons daily. More than 45 years old and ailing, it has been producing hardly 100 tons of cattle feed a month due to financial crunch.
"We have asked for Rs 60 million from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) to buy new machinery and delivery vans so that we can ramp up production to 150 tons daily," Bed Bahadur KC, manager of CFPC, told Republica on Monday.
According to the government data, the private sector has been producing 600,000 tons of feed annually, a large chunk of this is poultry feeds. CFPC used to produce 3,500 tons of feed per month before private companies began production.
"How can we compete with private producers at a time when they are investing huge money to tap the market while we get an annual budget of Rs 5 million from the government," asked KC. CFPC is annually spending Rs 5.8 million for salary and allowance to its 23 employees. The Hetauda-based state-owned company which used to dominate the bone-mill market with monthly production touching 100 tons, shut down its bone-mill unit last year due to lack of budget.
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