For the flood-ravaged Kerala, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) will supply milk and cattle feed worth Rs 2 crore to affected districts.

The apex dairy body has joined hands with the Government of Kerala and dairy cooperatives in the State to provide relief to the flood-affected people of Kerala.

Dilip Rath, chairman, NDDB wrote a letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala informing him about the delivery of the first lot of nearly one lakh sterile milk packs sent by NDDB already unloaded in Thrissur and Kozhikode districts on Sunday morning.

These single serve 180 ml packs of toned milk, aseptically packed can be consumed directly without boiling or heating. With a fat content of 3.5% and solids-not-fat (SNF) content of 8.5%, these milk packs are a very good source of balanced nutrition.

Relief materials

Also, more than a million such packs will be dispatched over the next next few days for distribution among the people lodged in relief camps across the state, Rath stated in a letter. These packs are being sourced from the Dakshina Kannada Milk Union’s dairy plant in Mangalore, Karnataka.

The total value of relief materials being arranged by NDDB is worth Rs 2 crore.

There is also severe shortage of feed and fodder for milch animals. "Inadequate nutrition for the milch animals for even brief periods could adversely affect their health and lead to reduced milk production in the long run," he stated.

To address this, NDDB is arranging to supply 500 MT (10,000 bags of 50 kg each) of cattle feed to the affected areas. The first lot of 46 MT of this supply, being sourced from the Karnataka Milk Federation’s cattle feed plant at Hassan has reached Wayanad district and is ready for distribution.

Also, Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) - an NDDB arm will airlift veterinary medicines worth about Rs 5 lakh.

The NDDB chief, however, underlined the difficulty in finding transporters to move relief materials into Kerala from outside the state and sought the Chief Minister’s help in this regard.

Considering the magnitude of the calamity, all NDDB employees have decided to donate a token amount from their salaries for the flood affected people of Kerala, a statement said here.

comment COMMENT NOW