Cabinet has approved a proposal to import 2500 dairy cattle from Australia, co-cabinet spokesman Ramesh Pathirana said.
Pathirana said that the decision was reached to meet the demand for liquid milk in th ecountry.
He said that Sri Lanka produces 1.2 million liters of milk a day while the demand is for 3.5 million liters a day.
Pathirana said that Sri Lanka is looking at cutting down on milk powder imports and boosting local production of milk.
In 2017 the then Government set a target to achieve self-sufficiency in dairy products by 2020 and to save Rs. 40 billion it spends annually on importing powdered milk.
In 2017, around 5,000 milch cows were imported for about 3,031 US dollars each or a total of 2,317 million US dollars. (Colombo Gazette)