Karnataka - Bidar   

Union yet to exploit milk producing potential of Bidar

Bidar: Even after two decades of its existence, the Gulbarga–Bidar Milk Union is unable to exploit the actual milk producing potential of Bidar. It collects only six per cent of the milk produced in the district.

The union was established in 1985 as a part of the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).

Lack of planning, inefficient administration and lack of long-sighted policies are said to be the reasons for this.

The two districts together have a single union. Gulbarga has chilling and packaging plants and Bidar has chilling units. Carving out a separate union will solve most of the problems, according to farmers’ associations.

According to cattle census, there are six lakh milch animals in Bidar. They yield around three lakh litres of milk a day. However, the union collects only around 30,000 litres a day from the district.

There are around 600 villages and 300 hamlets in the district. But the union’s procurement van visits only 186 villages and hamlets a day.

The union sells around 39,000 litres of milk a day and procures only around 33,000 litres. It buys the additional 6,000 litres from the Shimoga union.

Gulbarga has 4.6 lakh small and marginal farmers’ families and this figure for Bidar is 1.95 lakh. But only 17,050 such families supply milk regularly to Gulbarga and this number is 30,716 in Bidar.

Thus, the union has not been able to involve 92 per cent of the small and marginal farmers in the cooperative milk production movement, say union officials.

The KMF buys cow’s milk at Rs. 9.4 a litre and buffalo’s milk at Rs. 11. 4 a litre. But it sells cow’s milk at Rs. 14 a litre and buffalo’s milk at Rs. 18 a litre.

If the KMF’s administration is made more efficient and cost effective, then they can pay farmers at least one rupee more a litre. This will surely benefit the farmers, said Umesh Garane, who runs a dairy in Aurad.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha district unit president Vishwanath Patil Koutha said the demand for a separate union for Bidar was three decades old.

“We have been repeatedly appealing to the KMF to fulfil our demand, but in vain,” he said.

“Having one union for the two districts has neither helped Gulbarga nor Bidar. While the union has concentrated only on milk procurement in Bidar, it has focused on marketing it in Gulbarga. As a result, marketing in Bidar and production in Gulbarga have been neglected,” said Mr. Koutha.

If two separate unions were created, production and marketing would be strengthened in both the districts, he said.

KMF president and Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna said that similar demands for dividing the Mysore-Chamarajanagar union and the Mangalore-Udupi union were pending before the KMF.

“We will conduct feasibility studies for these and take a decision,” he said.

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