In the second week of Chait 2077, the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the then Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister Padma Aryal announced that the country has become self-sufficient in dairy products (powdered milk and butter). However, even after four years of the declaration, the import of dairy products has not been stopped. Due to open borders, a lot of dairy products are being imported illegally. The government has no account of where and how much is being imported.

Although the government has suspended the import of milk and dairy products, banned dairy products are found everywhere in the market. After the increase in the stock of milk and dairy products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development sent a letter to the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control on February 3, 2080 and told them not to issue import permits. Even though food claims that no import permit has been issued, dairy products worth crores of rupees have been legally imported. Illegal imports have not been stopped either. 

'Dairy products that have been banned from importation due to open borders are still coming in . Foreign dairy products are found in every department store,'' said a dairy industrialist. Illegal imports encouraged . If this is the case, there may be a problem in the payment of the farmers. After finding banned milk everywhere, the Dairy Industry Association has drawn the attention of the police administration to the Minister of Agriculture to stop the imported milk products.

'Despite the ban, dairy products such as foreign brand skim milk powder, dairy whitener, butter, ghee, whole milk powder, cheese have been illegally imported from across the border . There has been open sale and distribution everywhere in the commercial establishments," the notice issued by the association said, "The theft has affected the government revenue collection . On the other hand, if domestic goods cannot be sold, the balance of payment cycle will definitely be affected. The government should take control of the dairy products imported from stolen goods as the farmers will be killed. According to Rajkumar Dahal, president of

association, the armed police force has been requested to control the situation. He said that the memorandum was submitted after meeting the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ramnath Adhikari. Although the import of dairy products is not open, it has been imported formally and informally. Unofficially imported foreign brand dairy products are found everywhere. Ghee, butter and powdered milk have also arrived," said Dahal, president of the association, "we have sent letters from the agriculture minister to the armed police to tighten the border. If there is no tightening at the customs point, there may be a problem with the payment of the farmers.

On February 3, 2080, in a letter sent by the Ministry of Agriculture to Food Technology, it stated that there has been a request to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply to study the safeguards, anti-dumping and countervailing of milk and dairy products in order to address the stock of dairy products and non-payment by farmers. For a temporary solution to the problem, a letter was sent with a decision at the departmental ministerial level to postpone the import of milk and milk products until another decision is made. According to the letter, it has been decided to completely ban the sale of non-fat milk (skimmed milk), sugar or other sweet substances, nauni (butter), ghee . It is mentioned in the letter that there is a complete ban on the import of all kinds of raw, processed, ground or unground food, ground or ground food.

The food technology and quality control department issues an import permit if it is edible or not based on food hygiene. Recently, the Department of Animal Services has also got the right to issue. Along with the decision of the ministry, the import permit should be closed . But the import has not stopped .

Import of 500 million

In the financial year 2080/81, dairy products worth 500 million 5 lakh 7 thousand were imported according to the customs department. Out of which 81 thousand rupees skimmed milk, 3 crore 89 lakh 98 thousand rupees dairy products without added sugar or other sweeteners have been imported. 

2 crore 55 lakh 5 thousand rupees of whey and converted/non-frozen, sugared/non-sugared, granulated/unpasteurized dairy products, 4 crore 4 lakh 60 thousand rupees of butter, 10 lakh 39 thousand rupees of ghee have been imported . 1 crore 71 lakh 17 thousand rupees of bhujuri or pulverized and complete ban on all kinds of  Goods, other dairy products worth 387.3 million 7000 have been imported, the department said. The union claims that the same amount was imported illegally. According to the

department, in the 7th month of the current financial year, 368,900,000 has been imported. Out of which 1 crore 8 lakh 75 thousand rupees of butter and milk products which have been modified and not frozen, added sugar or not, and made into balls or not have been imported . Similarly, 1 crore 17 lakhs worth of cheese, 74 and a half thousand processed, ground or unpowdered goods, 5.8 and a half million ground or ground goods, 4 lakhs worth of ghee have been imported. 

Ministry of Agriculture Spokesperson Matina Joshi Vaidya says import is not open. However, these items are being imported. Import control is still in place. No decision has been taken to relax the import," she said. "It is the Department of Food Technology and Animal Services that issues the import permit. There is no information that the permit has been issued from the department.