The Government is importing 2,500 heifers from Australia while Sri Lanka possesses the know-how to develop the dairy industry of the country with the use of locally bred heifers, said Former State Minister of Agriculture Vidura Wickramanayaka.
"Just by importing 2500 heifers will it help? No. Because about 2 years back, 2500 heifers were imported by the Yahapalana Government and what happened? How many of them are still alive?," Wickramanayake questioned while speaking on the Newsline program telecast on TV1 on Tuesday (2nd). Speaking further he said, what should have ideally been done was to identify the factors which caused local heifers to produce a lower yield of milk and to address the issue. "The system should change, but we haven't changed the system, we haven't altered the system, we have not synchronized the system", the Former Minister remarked. The Former Minister also stated that the nation should gear up as one to overhaul the current system while striving to provide each citizen with a respectable standard of living.