More than three decades of armed conflict in Sri Lanka led to a steady deterioration of the food security situation along with social and economic infrastructure in Sri Lanka's Northern Province. Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are two districts in the north that were severely affected in the final phase of the war during January to May 2009. In mid-2009, resettlement programs began returning those displaced in the war to their home communities in these two districts. This report presents results and recommendations from an EMMA that focused on the availability of cross-breed milking cows to meet the demand for farmers seeking to both replace their cattle lost during the end of the war and to expand livelihood options through milk production. It concludes that the milking cow system in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu is functioning, but at a very low capacity relative to the demand, with few prospects to increase capacity in the near-term without outside assistance. Thus, it recommends advocating for fewer restrictions on cattle transportation, as well as providing support mechanisms to dairy farmers such as cash grants, Dairy Village programs and improvement of breeding practices. Importing milking cows from India and Pakistan is also suggested to quickly address the need for milk products in Sri Lanka.
Report authors:
Gregory Matthews, Tharmaratnam Parthipan, Nadarasa Pusharaj, Nishanty Sivakumaran, Ajith Weerasinghe