YK Poudel

Bhutan’s total dairy production, which includes milk, butter, cheese, and chugo, saw a total figure of 48,014 metric tonnes (MT) last year.

The Integrated Agriculture and Livestock Census 2023  (IALC 2023) attributed this growth to efforts such as dairy breed intensification programmes, improved management practices, enhanced nutrition and animal health services, and strengthened farmers’ institutions in the dairy sector.

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a rise of 1,739 MT in production, according to the IALC 2023.

In terms of dairy production, the economy between 2022 and 2023 recorded about 43,829 MT milk, 1,727 MT butter, 2,326 MT cheese, and 132 MT chugo.

Among the dzongkhags, Trashigang led the production of milk, butter, and cheese with total production of 5,503 MT, 226 MT and 311 MT, respectively.

However, the cheese production last year decreased slightly by two percent due to increased chugo production and higher demand for buttermilk in the market.

To enhance the dairy breed intensification programme in the country, the ministry last year supplied a total of 71,653 litres of Liquid Nitrogen across all 130 artificial insemination centres, and improved about 1,174 acres of pasture land for the dairy cattle.

As per the press release from the ministry of agriculture and livestock, the introduction of sexed-semen technology as one of the advanced reproductive bio-technologies was aimed at increasing the milking cattle population with potential of producing over 90 percent female progenies.

According to the Bhutan Trade Statistics 2023,the country exported about 267.89 MT of milk, butter, and cheese worth Nu 29.37 million.

Even so, the country imported 13,060.46 MT of milk and milk products worth Nu 1.31 billion. Similarly, the country imported 389.75 MT of butter worth Nu 160.4 million and 1,451.79 MT of cheese worth Nu 677.84 million.

Today, there are close to 222,600 cattle population in the country, which is a steady decline from over 320,000 in the 1960s.