Abstract

It is a well-known fact that milk supply in Madras City is not only inadequate but also the quality of milk has no bearing on the very high price paid. From various surveys made with regard to the exact number of milch animals in the City and taking the 2,000 licenses held by the City milkmen into account the total number of animals is computed to be 12,248 cattle and buffalocs. These are distributed in the 50 divisions comprising the City of Madras. Taking an average of about 8,000 female stock in milk and daily average yield at 10 Ib. per animal the total milk yield would be about 80,000 lb. The demand of the city is not wholly met by the milkmen. The Government Milk Factory distributes about 8,000 lb. of milk per day. The Co-operative Milk Supply Societies supply about 28,000 Ib. collecting from various centres from both within and outside the limits of the city up to 35 miles radius. Added to this, milk is brought by trains, cyclists and buses and the quantity handled by them would roughly be about 24.000 lb. The total quantity of whole milk distributed within the city would be about 1,40,000 lb. The population of the Madras City was 12-35 lakhs in 1946 according to the City Rationing Officer. It may now be taken as not less than 14 lakhs. Based on the above calculations the average per capita consumption of milk is 16 ozs. which is perhaps the lowest in the world. It is therefore imperative in the interest of the nation that the average milk consumption of the citizen should be increased to 16 ozs. per capita per day.

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