Dairy farmers in Wangphu chiwog under Samdrup Jongkhar no longer have to worry about their milk going to waste. With the recent establishment of a milk-processing unit in the village, farmers now have a reliable market to sell their produce and earn a steady income.
Farmers now sell fresh milk directly to the local milk processing unit, earning about 35 ngultrum per litre.
Some members of the village milk group run the unit, where they process the milk into butter and cheese before supplying it to Samdrupcholing Dungkhag for sale.
The facility ensures a reliable market for farmers, reduces milk wastage, and boosts income for dairy households.
“Before, we didn’t have a place to sell cheese. Now, with this unit, we can sell fresh milk directly without having to make butter or cheese ourselves,” said Chedon, a villager.
Nima Dorji, another dairy farmer, said, “In a day, we produce about 150 litres of milk, and so far, we haven’t faced any problems with marketing.”
“Selling milk here is convenient because we don’t have to process it into butter or cheese at home,” said Mindu Tshomo, who has two cows producing about 10 litres of milk every day.
“We used to face challenges in marketing butter and cheese. Now, we sell fresh milk here at the unit, and the milk group members take care of selling butter and cheese to the market,” said Sangay, also a dairy farmer.
The milk-processing unit was constructed with support from CARLEP at a cost of Nu 1.3 M. The Gewog administration provided equipment worth Nu 400,000.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Sangay Chezom
