KENINGAU, July 10 — The government allocates RM200 million in an effort to increase fresh milk production in the country, said Deputy Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi.

According to last year’s statistics, he said the country could only produce 40.6 million litres of fresh milk compared to 68.8 million litres needed.

"This means we are short of more than 20 million litres of fresh milk,” he told reporters after visiting Evergreen Livestock Sdn Bhd here today.

Che Abdullah said Malaysia was importing 20 million litres of fresh milk from countries like Australia and New Zealand to meet the supply shortage of locally produced fresh milk.

He said the government has introduced the Entry Point Project (EPP) 13-Dairy Cluster programme since 2011 which aimed at increasing local milk production and reducing dependence on imported milk.

"The EPP-13 project has increased the country’s milk production from 27.02 litres in 2012 to 36.61 litres in 2017,” he said, adding that three anchor companies including Evergreen Livestock Sdn Bhd have been appointed to produce dairy products in Keningau.

Che Abdullah said the implementation of the programme not only increased the country’s production of fresh milk but also increased the income of the breeders through the rise in raw milk sales.

The current price of raw milk is between RM2.50 and RM3.20 per litre compared to RM1.35 and RM1.85 previously. — Bernama