Even after a year of its setting up, the hi-tech dairy farm of the State-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) near Perla here, is reportedly marketing a mere 30 litres of milk a day.
The dairy farm envisaged at an estimated ₹5 crore outlay with state-of-the-art equipment, including computerised machines that can milk eight cows at one go, along with imported fodder processing units to maintain the high-yielding cow breed presently has only 13 cows and 10 calves.
The PCK opened the hi-tech dairy unit in 2016 as part of its diversification efforts. The serious health issues faced by residents of over 11 panchayats in the district are attributed to the aerial spraying of endosulfan by PCK in its cashew estates for over two decades.
On 15 acres
The dairy farm on 15 acres of land started functioning with 16 high-yielding cows. The plan was to enhance its capacity eventually to maintain 100 cows.
During a visit to the farm, the workers said that the unit presently sold 30 litres of milk a day. But a senior PCK official here said that the unit was marketing 100 litres of milk a day.
High-breed cow varieties
The plant was in the process of enhancing its yield by procuring more high-breed cow varieties. It needed the
consent of the newly constituted director board, a
senior official of the Kottayam-headquartered public sector unit said.
