Production and import of essentials
Saturday, 18 April 2009
IT would appear from the reported allegations of the milk producers and collectors of Bangladesh's best- known dairy districts, Pabna and Sirajganj, that their big buyers have recently been throwing ethics to the wind with their sudden decision to go for cheaper supplies from across the border. In the first week of April, some of the affected dairy farmers made news in both the print and electronic media with a symbolic display of their resentment against Indian imports, pouring some thousand litres of their own un-bought milk on the Pabna-Bogra highway. The protestors demanded that milk imports be stopped forthwith in order to save the country's growing dairy industry.
One can well understand the ire of those who feel left in the lurch by the companies. Surely, good businesses at home should realise that the ethical thing to do is, to buy from your brother first, so to say, then if need be, from your neighbour. When entrepreneurs here started dreaming of marketing home-produced milk, there was no end to encouragement from all quarters, in the first place, for raising local dairy production to feed the growing demand for pasteurised liquid milk. In good faith, the dairy farmers had responded appreciably, and today, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in at least six upazilas of Pabna and Sirajganj are involved in producing and collecting milk for Bangladesh's most successful brands. Therefore, it comes as a rude shock to learn that such a wonderfully working partnership is beginning to turn sour. Hopefully, there is nothing more (sinister) here than meets the eye, such as the proverbial vested interest group, putting a spanner in the works of Bangladesh's successful enterprises.
On the face of it, the demand for protection of home-grown dairies is logical enough and by extension it should reach the grassroots, the actual producers of the milk, who are said to be often denied a fair price by the agents or middlemen. Fair play all along the delivery line, from the bottom raw milk producers to the high profile companies, down to the ultimate consumer, should be the guiding principle of a good entrepreneur. As for the demand to ban milk imports altogether, that would be rather ambitious, and irrational, to boot, for milk, unlike so much trash food Bangladesh imports today, is an essential food item, and should be treated as such. Bangladesh does not produce enough milk, yet, but if it could be made available and affordable for the majority, to be consumed as part of the daily diet, their nutritional status would improve in no time. But it would be certainly reasonable to insist that liquid milk be kept out so as not to disrupt the livelihoods of a huge number of domestic producers.
Bangladesh permits the import of mountains of dried milk, mostly from the rich countries (where it is said to be costlier to store than give away free). Is there any mechanism to check the bonafide of such imports? Only the other day, the police were reported to have seized a large consignment of date-expired milk powder from the local office of a multi-national company though the latter claimed it was untrue. After the Chernobyl disaster opportunists scrambled to flood Bangladesh with dangerously irradiated milk. Not too long ago there was the so-called melamine scandal and some brands here were reportedly found to be contaminated. The need for competent checks therefore grows as more and more toxins in the environment reveal themselves. Early this month, AFP reported that the US Centre for Disease Control had found as many as 15 brands of baby milk, in over half the states of America, contaminated with perclorate, a chemical used in the manufacture of explosives and rocket fuel! In babies it can disrupt thyroid function and lead to iodine deficiency disorders. According to the Science and Environmental Epidemiology journal, two of the worst affected brands which used lactose and cow's milk, enjoyed nearly 90 per cent of the US baby food market. Interestingly, the names of the US brands were withheld unlike the Chinese melamine-tainted milk!
One can well understand the ire of those who feel left in the lurch by the companies. Surely, good businesses at home should realise that the ethical thing to do is, to buy from your brother first, so to say, then if need be, from your neighbour. When entrepreneurs here started dreaming of marketing home-produced milk, there was no end to encouragement from all quarters, in the first place, for raising local dairy production to feed the growing demand for pasteurised liquid milk. In good faith, the dairy farmers had responded appreciably, and today, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in at least six upazilas of Pabna and Sirajganj are involved in producing and collecting milk for Bangladesh's most successful brands. Therefore, it comes as a rude shock to learn that such a wonderfully working partnership is beginning to turn sour. Hopefully, there is nothing more (sinister) here than meets the eye, such as the proverbial vested interest group, putting a spanner in the works of Bangladesh's successful enterprises.
On the face of it, the demand for protection of home-grown dairies is logical enough and by extension it should reach the grassroots, the actual producers of the milk, who are said to be often denied a fair price by the agents or middlemen. Fair play all along the delivery line, from the bottom raw milk producers to the high profile companies, down to the ultimate consumer, should be the guiding principle of a good entrepreneur. As for the demand to ban milk imports altogether, that would be rather ambitious, and irrational, to boot, for milk, unlike so much trash food Bangladesh imports today, is an essential food item, and should be treated as such. Bangladesh does not produce enough milk, yet, but if it could be made available and affordable for the majority, to be consumed as part of the daily diet, their nutritional status would improve in no time. But it would be certainly reasonable to insist that liquid milk be kept out so as not to disrupt the livelihoods of a huge number of domestic producers.
Bangladesh permits the import of mountains of dried milk, mostly from the rich countries (where it is said to be costlier to store than give away free). Is there any mechanism to check the bonafide of such imports? Only the other day, the police were reported to have seized a large consignment of date-expired milk powder from the local office of a multi-national company though the latter claimed it was untrue. After the Chernobyl disaster opportunists scrambled to flood Bangladesh with dangerously irradiated milk. Not too long ago there was the so-called melamine scandal and some brands here were reportedly found to be contaminated. The need for competent checks therefore grows as more and more toxins in the environment reveal themselves. Early this month, AFP reported that the US Centre for Disease Control had found as many as 15 brands of baby milk, in over half the states of America, contaminated with perclorate, a chemical used in the manufacture of explosives and rocket fuel! In babies it can disrupt thyroid function and lead to iodine deficiency disorders. According to the Science and Environmental Epidemiology journal, two of the worst affected brands which used lactose and cow's milk, enjoyed nearly 90 per cent of the US baby food market. Interestingly, the names of the US brands were withheld unlike the Chinese melamine-tainted milk!