The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) will establish a milk processing complex with the capacity to process over 35,000 liters of milk on a daily basis, officials said.

The ministry will invest $12 million USD in the project funded by the national budget, said Jahangir Miakhail, general director of the MAIL’s livestock and animal health department.

He said the center will be built in Beni Hesar Farm in Kabul and that it will meet international standards.

He said the complex will have standard cold storage facilities, a center for producing animal feed and it will provide dairy products in standard packages. 

“This center will be built based on international norms and its production will meet the international norms,” Miakhail said. 

Officials from the state-owned Guzargah Dairy Products Firm said there is a need for more investment in the sector – considering an increasing influx and rapid demand of imported dairy products for local markets.

“The country needs a big milk processing center with the capacity to produce at least 30,000 liters of milk – every day – in order to help Afghanistan become self-reliant in this sector,” said Ghulam Zekria, head of the dairy.

According to a recent report by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 75 percent of dairy products are imported into Afghanistan but that many provinces have the capacity to run major dairy processing plants.