KABUL: Central Statistic Organization (CSO) figures have shown that Afghan diary import hit $42 million from the neighboring countries on annual basis.
Despite producing about 1.5 million tons of dairy products on annual bases. Afghanistan has paid about $18 million for importing about 29,000 tons of dairy products from several countries, especially from Pakistan and Iran.
Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FOA) says that about 2.1 million dairy cows exist in Afghanistan with the capacity of producing more than 1.5 million tons of milk.
“As there is no quality control in Afghanistan, most of the dairy products are being imported and the country’s markets are full of imported products,” FOA technical head Lotfullah Rang said.
The UN officials emphasized on establishment of dairy processing plants, calling it vital for the economic growth of the country and the improved situation of dairy farms.
The comments came after the FOA opened a dairy processing factory in eastern Jalalabad, provincial capital of Nangarhar, with the capacity of processing 10,000 liters of milk per day.
The factory head, Ziaullah Danish, noted that currently seven types of dairy products were being produced and packed according to international standards.
“We have made a number of ranchers our partners to bring milk for us from the districts, and they are making a good profit of it,” Danish said.
According to FOA officials, currently five medium processing plants are operating in the country, processing yearly about one million liters of milk being collected from eight provinces.
Besides this, 15 other small factories are also active in the country, processing 180,000 liters of milk that meet only 20 percent of total demand of the citizens.
The livestock experts criticize the government for not paying required attention to the farming industry. The critics believe the government by supporting this sector not only will be able to meet the demands of the citizens, but can also export its products to the Central Asian and Gulf countries.
