The Pakistan Dairy Development Company (PDDC) has achieved a milestone in establishing 1,000 cooling tanks through its "cooling tank programme". The programme has been on for less than two years. By way of comparison, before the programme started, the dairy sector had 1,500 cooling tanks in operation.
"So the 1,000 tanks provided through the programme were a significant addition to the infrastructure of the sector," said a company spokesman on Tuesday. Programme Manager Sarfraz Ahmad said the cooling tanks were an important requirement to protect the quality of milk and reduce loss through spoiling. "In the developed dairy nations, milk is cooled immediately after milking. So Pakistan has a long way to go to match this. PDDC will play its role in the process of upgrading the quality of the milk in Pakistan," Ahmad said.
He said the company calculated that 500,000 litres of milk per day were channelled through the cooling tanks established under its programme. "The programme envisages the establishment of over 6,000 cooling tanks during programme, and the company praises the support of the government in funding dairy development programmes", he added.
Another important programme being operated by the company's Technical Department is the "bio-gas programme". This programme, which uses dung to produce gas for domestic purposes, with an excellent organic fertiliser as a by-product, has resulted in 80 bio-gas installations across the country.
PDDC plans to establish 650 bio-gas units throughout Pakistan in the life of the present programme, and the 65 units now in operation are a fine start on the way to achieve the company's targets," he said. Company Chief Executive Geoff Walker has also hailed the achievement of the company's Technical Department.