With the opening of a new Milk Processing Unit (MPU) in Lamtang under Goshing Gewog of Zhemgang, the people are now looking at exploring more of dairy farming to increase their income.
The MPU, a long-awaited project, was set up for Lamtang Norbu Samphel Cooperative. The group, with 29 members, said the unit will enable them to diversify their dairy products and enhance income.
“We are hoping to improve our livelihoods through the income the processing unit will help us generate. At the moment, we produce yoghurt, butter, cheese, and ice cream as we have been trained to produce the products before the unit opened,” Wangda said.
“Before establishing the milk processing unit, we produced cow milk for self-consumption. But now, things have changed. We want to sell milk to the unit and make some extra cash,” Dorji Nidup said.
According to the dzongkhag livestock office, besides boosting rural income, setting up a milk processing unit in the village is to bring people together to work and foster community vitality.
“With rapid development, community vitality is vanishing in towns and villages. People rarely know each other. So, through such an initiative, we want to foster a healthy relationship between people in a community,” Ugyen Lhundup, the District Livestock Officer, said.
As of now, there are five MPUs in Zhemgang. And, by the end of the current Plan, the district livestock sector is looking at establishing such units in all eight gewogs of the district.
Pema Samdrup
