Goa Govt to encourage farmers to purchase more milch animals

Panaji, July 28 (UNI) The Goa Government wants to encourage farmers to purchase more milch animals to boost milk production in the State, Animal Husbandry Minister Francisco Xavier Pacheco told the Legislative Assembly today.

Replying to a starred question by Viswas Satarkar (BJP), the Minister said there was no decline in the overall milk production in the State but it was subject to seasonal variations -- the production is less during February to July and more during August to January. The farmers prefer to sell milk in the open market rather than to the Dairy Cooperative Society (Goa Milk Union) as it fetches better price.

Goa produced 180.46 lakh litres of milk from June 2005 to May 2006. The production in the lean season averaged 13 lakh litres as against 18 lakh litres in the peak season, according to the statistics.

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