India Facing Lack of Dairy Products Amid Lumpy Disease Outbreak

In the last six months, 11 out of 28 Indian states have witnessed an outbreak of viral infection among cattle, caused by the lumpy skin disease (LSD) virus. About three million cattle across the country have been affected.

Customers in the Indian states of Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi and its neighboring areas have been complaining about a lack of dairy products, such as butter and cheese, in the market since the beginning of November.

Sonia Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh state's Ghaziabad district, told Sputnik that she searched for butter in at least 10 shops, including Mother Dairy (a government-owned chain of milk shops) and online, but could not find it anywhere.

"Milk-related products are being supplied in limited quantity these days, especially butter. Although these are also low in supply, butter is consumed in huge quantities. Hence, the customers are feeling the pain," Rahul Dutta, a shopkeeper in Vasundhara Sector 15 of Mayur Vihar Phase 3, shared with Sputnik.

Meanwhile, Amul, a milk and milk-related supplying group which sells nearly four million liters per day, mostly in Delhi and the National Capital Region, confirmed the shortage, but assured reporters last week that the situation would normalize in the upcoming weeks.

Amid the shortages, the Mother Dairy group on Monday hiked milk prices, which came as a surprise to its customers as it is the 4th time this year the producer has risen the cost. Earlier, the cost of milk was raised by the Amul group as well.

The companies' representatives, however, do not link the price hikes with lumpy skin disease, assuming it is due to an increase in the cost of procuring raw materials from dairy farmers to produce milk.

India is the world's largest milk producer, and it also has the world's largest cattle population. Given that, the viral infection is threatening the livelihoods of farmers across the whole country. The situation is especially risky in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, where dozens of cattle reportedly died from the disease.

Medical practitioners say that symptoms can be handled and animals can recovered if proper care is taken. The virus can be easily spotted because when an animal is infected, 2-5 cm wide nodules appear on its body, especially around the neck and genital head, and it further develops fever.

Speaking to Sputnik, however, Dr. Chandramouli Shah, a veterinary, clarified that lumpy disease is a non-zoonotic infection,which means it is safe to consume the milk even from the cattle infected with LSD.

At the same time, there is a possibility of cows prodding less milk, because they become weak due to nodule formation, fever, and other symptoms, brought with LSD, Shah noted.

As there is no dedicated vaccine against LSD at the moment, state governments in India are vaccinating cows with a goat pox vaccine.