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Private dairies to hike price of milk

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Kerala Dairy Industries Association has decided to increase the price of milk. It has also demanded that the Government declare a support price for milk.

Association general secretary Anil Kumar and coordinator Joy Aranbankudy told mediapersons here that the new MRP per packet would be as follows: toned milk - Rs.10; double toned milk - Rs.9; standardised milk - Rs.12.

The association has members belonging to more than a dozen dairies in Kerala, with a market share of 50 per cent, according to them.

The decision was taken in the wake of increase in the cost of production, Mr. Joy said.

The dairy farmers were in dire straits as the current price of milk was not remunerative.

A cow that yields 10 litres of milk would require 5 kg of cattle feed daily. The price of cattle feed had gone up from Rs.350 to Rs.410 to Rs.425 for a pack of 50 kg, he said.

The price paid by cooperative milk societies to the farmer was Rs.11.12 per litre. This was grossly inadequate, he said.

The crisis in the sector was forcing many farmers to quit the field. About 25 per cent of dairy farmers had abandoned the sector within the last four years, according to him.

The association office-bearers also alleged that the societies supplying milk to Milma were entangled in political squabbles and hence were unable to focus on the welfare of dairy farmers.

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