Representative image
BENGALURU: The government is under pressure to hike monetary incentive for milk farmers with production seeing an all-time high and dairy cooperative unions slashing procurement prices drastically. Dip in demand for the essential commodity amid the coronavirus crisis has added to the producers’ woes.
As per Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) data, commutative inflow of milk to 14 unions across the state touched 89 lakh litres on July 14, the highest procurement ever recorded. The previous record (84 lakh litres) was seen on June19, 2018 amid the market glut created by copious rain.
The over-production has come at a time when demand has fallen considerably due to the Covid-induced economic slowdown. Daily consumption has dropped from an average of 65 lakh litres to 50 lakh litres with bulk consumers like hotels, wedding halls and hostel canteens closed.
While a reduction in procurement would have put farmers in more distress, milk unions, instead, decided to slash procurement prices, putting the onus of helping farmers on the government. The procurement price of average quality of milk with 3.5% fat and 8.5% SNF (solidnot-fat) has fallen by Rs 4-6 per litre across unions.
“Milk unions have done their bit by procuring all the milk being produced. If we decide to send it back, farmers would spill it on roads as they did in Maharashtra two years ago,” said Narasimha Murthy, president of Bengaluru Milk Union Limited (Bamul), that covers Bengaluru Urban, Rural and Ramanagara districts. “Now it’s the government’s turn to take responsibility. It should hike the incentive by at least Rs 2 per litre to reduce the burden on both farmers and milk unions, which are incurring huge losses,” explained Murthy.
T Yashawanta, co-convener of the dairy sector at Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, said: “The government has to address this crisis. It can help reduce the mounting inventory at milk unions by procuring milk powder and supplying it to Covid patients and children at their doorsteps. It should hike the incentive by at least Rs 2 per litre and give some subsidy to milk unions.”
At present, the government gives an incentive of Rs 5 per litre to farmers in addition to procurement price milk unions offer so that they get a total of Rs 32 for a litre. However, with revenues declining due to lockdowns, the government also seems to be helpless. “I don’t think the present financial situation would allow us to announce additional incentive for milk producers. However, I will discuss the issue with the chief minister,” said animal husbandry minister Prabhu B Chauhan.
In fact, the government has not paid incentive to milk producers since March; the outstanding amount has climbed to Rs 52 crore. “This is due to a technical problem and has nothing to with the financial crisis. We want to pay the incentive through direct benefit transfer. The software is getting ready and Aaadhar linkage to bank accounts of farmers is under way,” said Captain P Manivannan, secretary, department of animal husbandry and fisheries.
