The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Dairies in distress, profits running dry

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Sunday, Aug 24, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Dairies in distress, profits running dry

— Photo: R. Ashok

At work: The staff of a private milk cooling plant at Puthur in Tiruchi city, readying milk for cooling.

For dairy farmers in the district their continuity in the vocation appears uncertain. They have been subjected to the vagaries of inflationary trend and are unable to even break-even.

“We jumped with joy when the State government came out with an announcement of increasing the milk procurement price by Rs. two per litre in the month of March. Even before we could celebrate the announcement and share this good news with our fa mily members, came the shocking news of hike in the price of cattle feed on that same day. The price of cattle feed registered a sharp increase by over Rs. 50 per bag within hours making it extremely miserable for the dairy farmers”, observed a cross section of dairy farmers of the district on the current inflationary conditions.

“This inflationary trend is unprecedented and the entire industry will be in doldrums if the government does not come to the rescue of dairy farmers by further increasing the milk procurement price and provide cattle feed at a subsidised rate”, they point out.

The district accounts for over 2.5 lakh dairy farmers, of which about 50,000 are active milk pouring farmers. These farmers have always been at the receiving end owing to various factors and had to be under the mercy of the government. The sharp hike in the price of the cattle feed has hit them further.

The 50 kg cattle feed bag which was priced at Rs. 490 in March has now risen to Rs. 650. The price of groundnut oil cake has gone up from Rs. 15 per kg to Rs. 24; gingelly oil cake from Rs. 11 per kg to Rs. 17; the husk from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6.50 per kg and a bundle of sorghum (cholam) from Rs. 70 to Rs. 150.

As far as hay is concerned its prices too has doubled from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 a bundle. The price of paddy hay raised in an acre was earlier fixed at Rs. 400, and it has shot up to Rs. 1,500. Hay raised in one acre will be good enough to feed an animal for a year. Since machinery is used for harvesting now, hay breaks in to small pieces and does not lasts longer, complain the farmers.

The dairy farmers of Musiri and other belts in the district have already begun to sell their cattle unable to maintain them. Due to hike in the prices, the farmers were unable to provide adequate feed to meet the daily requirement of the animals in order to get higher yield. Hence, there is a sharp fall in milk production in rural areas, says the state joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Welfare Federation, N. Ganesan.

Many farmers have already abandoned the trade and have moved to neighbouring Namakkal for jobs in spinning mills in that town. The shepherds were paid Rs. 50 every day and there were not many at present to do this job as the wages given to them is too meagre to make their both ends meet. Many have turned as construction workers now, Mr. Ganesan said.

Similar views were expressed by farmers affiliated to various milk societies. The former president of the Punganur Cooperative Milk Producers’ Society, K. Velayutham said that about 280 “milk pouring members” of the society were earlier producing 2,000 litres per day. That has now come down to 1,500 litres.

The farmers are finding it difficult to find people to draw milk from the animals as there was a serious shortage of such people.

The secretary of the society, K. Rajendran and many other farmers concur with him. They also complain that the cooperative banks had stopped sanctioning cattle loans. Even those institutions which come forward to extend financial assistance provide only Rs. 12,000 as loan, while the cost of a milch animal is not less than Rs. 20,000.

For D. Manivel of Punganur, a dairy farmer for the last four decades, the present inflationary conditions were unprecedented. There is a scarcity of cattle feed. Even for getting oil cake, we have to get token in advance, he lamented.

K. Selvaraj, running S. Vennila Milk Cooling unit at Puthur in the city for the past few decades, the fuel price hike has proved very dearly as milk had to be transported from villages to the city.

“We have increased the marketing price of the cow milk from Rs. 14 per litre to Rs. 19 and buffalo milk from Rs. 17 to Rs. 22. I have been selling 1,000 litres a day. The profit margin has almost dried up. We will not be able to pull on at this rate for long,” he said with frustration writ large on his face.

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