The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Milch cow is a dependable partner even during drought

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 13, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Milch cow is a dependable partner even during drought

Bageshree S.

The cattle are turning into white elephants

Over 70 per cent of those owning a cow are small and marginal farmers
A majority of the cooperative milk unions are located in southern districts

Bangalore: As many as 19.2 lakh farmers in 13 district milk co-operative unions in Karnataka, mostly in the southern parts, are involved in dairy farming.

Of them, over 70 per cent are small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural workers.

Their profit margins were nothing enviable. But dairying, one of the few surviving co-operative movements in a market-driven economy, has proved far more sustainable than most other forms of agriculture during these years of deep agrarian crisis.

The farmers are hoping that a major portion of the increased price of milk will be passed on to them, making dairying a worthwhile enterprise even as cost of feeding and maintaining cows is constantly rising.

“Farmer suicides are fewer in areas where they have the option of dairy farming and dairy co-operatives are strong,” says Karnataka Milk Federation managing director I.R. Ramalinge Gowda. While farmers in Kolar are forced to dump tomatoes they grew by the truckloads because of slump, dairy farming was sustaining them, he says.

A question of survival

Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha State general secretary G.C. Byya Reddy gives the economy of his own village, Gadigavarahalli near Chintamani in Kolar district, as an instance of the working of a milk economy.

An average of 400 to 500 litres of milk is procured from this village in two shifts every day. This is in contrast to agriculture, which is not only largely rain dependent but also subject to fluctuating market prices. “A dairy farmer is paid once in every 15 days and that is a big thing in a village economy,” he said. “The local shop keeper will at least not hesitate to give you food grains on credit.”

Hyder Baig, secretary of the Mugabal Milk Co-operative Society near Hoskote in Bangalore Rural District, says that milk production is “a ray of hope” for farmers. As much as 1,150 litres of milk is procured daily from his society, which covers 100 farmers in three villages.

Mr. Baig hopes the federation will pass on at least Rs. 1.50 out of the Rs. 2 increase to them. At present, farmers get Rs. 10.53 a litre, of which close to Rs. 8 is spent on fodder and maintaining the cow.

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