Pelwatte to establish chilling centres and milking sheds in several areas

Pelwatte Dairy Industries expresses its delight on the promise of the President to allocate special lands for the dairy farmers, following several issues pertaining to the lack of land for cattle grazing in the districts of Ampara and Anuradhapura. 

While conveying its gratitude to the President for taking the matter into concern and for promising to support the industry and people, Pelwatte Dairy has expressed its willingness to help establish milking sheds and chilling centres in the government-proposed lands.

With announcements of special lands being promised incidentally, the proposed chilling centres and milking sheds will help farmers milk their cows in a safe and clean environment, collect the milk, store them in chilling centres and support in getting it delivered to the company on time thereby also increasing the productivity and efficiency of the industry, while also ensuring that they will get the right price for the milk. The whole process will be able to be easily monitored and cleared by the veterinarians and health officials.

Commenting on the announcement to establish such sheds, Pelwatte Dairy Industries Managing Director Akmal Wickramanayake said, “We believe that these establishments will help secure spots for milking, storage and act as points of collection and transportation. This in turn will help ensure that Pelwatte’s products will be in the top of the line in terms of freshness and overall quality. 

This will further support in increasing the range of products that are enriched with the wholesome goodness of fresh milk that is nutrient-rich and preservative-free, while also supporting the families in the area and the industry as a whole.”

The milking sheds will be equipped with all necessary equipment, as the milking machines, required infrastructure and facilities to provide a comfortable environment for the cattle and the farmers. 

The milking systems will be established as such to provide a constant and repeatable environment every day, ensuring safe and healthy practices. The milking machines will help mitigate the risks and improve quality and overall speed, as opposed to doing it by hand.

The facility will also arrange and mitigate overcrowding and spoilage before processing. The sheds will act as direct one-stop contact points to the delivery system, thereby establishing a steady stream of delivery processes, ensuring that the milk reaches the chilling centres and factory in time. 

These sheds can also be used to inspect cattle for health and hygiene and ensure that their underlying vitals, immunity and health stay in the right charts. The company believes that these systems will especially help the farmers who have large herds of cattle still being a great facility for all dairy farmers alike.

Dairy farmers in the areas of Mahaoya, Welikanda, Seruwila, Rambakenoya, Pollebedda, Kandegama and Maduru and other adjacent areas of the Ampara district expressed their concerns regarding the restrictions imposed by the Wildlife Department, Forest Conservation Department and Mahaweli Authority for cattle grazing in the lands. 

Even though separate lands had been promised earlier, such spaces hadn’t been allocated duly, thereby reportedly resulted in dairy farmers being confronted to strict law enforcements. This had brought the sector in this area to a standstill and endangering families, cattle and the industry as a whole. Pelwatte Industries sought the support of the authorities in this regard.

Pelwatte field officers said, “This measure will help overcome the problems faced by over 2000 cattle that have been stranded in the lands. It will also give dairy farmers access to their cows that have not been allowed to visit and care our cattle for months even though this possesses a serious problem as the cattle need to be milked regularly to prevent fertility issues, disease and any loss to productivity. Even veterinarians have backed this claim.

We believe that the announcement of allocation of lands would support us immensely.”