Custos Fuller concerned about low milk intake
Published:Friday | June 3, 2022 | 12:05 AM
As an indicator of nutritional status, Jamaicans are not drinking enough milk for a normal healthy life. Locally, per capita consumption of milk remains at 105 millilitres per day. This is one-third of the average for Latin America and the Caribbean; one-fifth of the average for developed countries; slightly less than the average of other developing countries; and half of The World Health Organization minimum requirement.
And it is also a matter of grave concern to Custos Rotulorum of Kingston Steadman Fuller, who made his concerns about this nutritional deficit public, during Wednesday’s observance of World Milk Day at the Tulloch Primary School in Bog Walk, St Catherine.
“Milk as we know is vital to our good health individually and collectively. I was therefore quite surprised to learn that our milk intake here in Jamaica is at 105 millilitres per day as against the required standard intake of 720 millilitres per day per person.
“When considered in light of the importance of milk, beginning from birth, we recognise that much needs to be done. The matter must be quickly and strategically addressed in the interest of our babies and children and ultimately, the future of our country,” he appealed to stakeholders in the dairy industry, including executives of the Jamaica Dairy Development Board (JDDB).
“Healthy bones and teeth have at their root sufficient intake of calcium and minerals. Cow’s milk is the major source for these ingredients… . I do hope that in the interest of our nation, well find a way to bring back milk on the top of our agenda,” Fuller, who is chairman of the school board and a past student of Tulloch Primary School, declared.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE GDP
In 2012, the livestock sector contributed J$10.346 billion to the economy or one per cent to gross domestic production. Local dairy products, primarily processed fresh milk, accounted for approximately 10 per cent of local dairy products consumption, with the balance of 90 per cent (fluid milk equivalent) satisfied by imports. Local milk production peaked at 38.8 million litres in 1992 and has been consistently declining since, except for the period 1996-1999, to 12 million litres in 2013 and production has varied between 12 and 13 million litres since 2010.
Fuller continued: “I am aware that we’ll not be able to come up with all the solutions here but it is my hope that as we broaden the scope of these discussions, as we engage as we are doing today, we will come up with some doable ideas to put us in a better position to meet the international standards of two litres of milk per person.”
Meanwhile, chairman of the JDDB, Dr Derrick Deslandes, disclosed that at six litres per cow, per day, Jamaica’s daily milk production pales in comparison with that of Israel at 45 litres per cow; USA at 38 litres per cow; the United Kingdom at 32 litre per cow, and Canada at 30 litres per cow.
‘So in terms of where we are, we have a lot of work to do and so the dairy board has embarked on a programme with the farmers that will help us, we believe, to turn the corner. We are only now producing about 15 per cent of our needs and part of the work of the dairy board this time around working with the farmers within the sector, and it has been a very long road and it has been a very tough and intensive struggle,” he admitted.
Describing the dairy industry as one that is poised for extensive growth, Dr Deslandes pointed to some of the obstacles.
“In some countries the milk industry is mandated to supply the school-feeding programme (and) in fact, there is an organised structure where the school-feeding programme is supported by the milk industry. In our case, we have 140,000 students on PATH and the policy says, they should be given one serving of milk per day, for five days per week. In other words, one of the mandates of our school-feeding programme is that we should be providing a milk meal to students. If you do the math, that’s 15 million litres of milk per year.”