Credit facilities for 5,940 dairy farmers

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Livestock Development Minister C.B. Ratnayake told Parliament yesterday that through the special loan scheme (NLDL) introduced in the 2008 Budget to promote local milk production, credit facilities have been granted to 5,940 dairy farmers so far.

Under this loan scheme, Rs. 820.38 million has been granted to 3,288 dairy farmers in 2008 while Rs. 460.61 million worth loans have been issued to 2,652 dairy farmers upto June 30, this year. This loan scheme was introduced in April 2008 to assist those who are engaged in the dairy industry to further develop their production.

At present this loan scheme has covered all districts including Jaffna, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts.

During last year, this loan scheme has granted the highest number of credit facilities to dairy farmers in Colombo district which amounts to Rs. 318.97 million. The second highest amount of loans of Rs. 130.80 million have been given to dairy farmers in Batticaloa district, the minister said.