4.1.1. Cattle

Cow milk (665,285 tons annually) is the second primary source of liquid milk consumption after buffalo (1,245,954 tons annually) in Nepal, accounting for about one-third of the total milk production [20]. Despite the significant contribution of cattle to the Nepalese dairy sector, cow milk productivity is very low compared with the global average. Additionally, milk production trends are not promising as annual dairy cattle milk productivity in 2001 was 412 kg/milking cow, and it had only increased to 627 kg/milking cow by 2015 [20]. One crucial aspect in this respect is that non-milking cows share a substantial proportion of the total cattle number since milking cows represent only ~14% of the entire cattle population [20]. Due to religious issues, it is not possible to cull non-productive cattle in Nepal.

When formulating future policies to improve the national self-sufficiency for milk, it is, therefore, recommended to focus on other milk-producing animals, such as buffalo, goats, and in mountainous regions, even yak. In contrast to cattle, these different species are associated with fewer religious constraints, allowing for efficient breeding and culling policies to be implemented. Details of the milk production status of goats, sheep, and yak are not available, and thus, in the following, the milk production status of only buffalo will be presented. However, goats are particularly very suited to Nepal's mountainous agricultural zones and can contribute to the national milk production and the development of milk-based industries also for small-holders, provided suitable breeding and proper livestock managemen<sup>t</sup> approaches are applied. More recently, goa<sup>t</sup> milk has been recognized as a particularly efficient tool to fight against malnutrition in the ultra-poor population, and the governmen<sup>t</sup> has introduced various programs to promote dairy goa<sup>t</sup> farming among poor farmers.
