For weeks, dairy farmers had been staging a series of protests, demanding a hike in the price of fresh milk. It is difficult, if not impossible, to answer why their demands were ignored for so long. We are not saying that prices should have been raised immediately after the demands were tabled but at least the agitating farmers could have been invited to the negotiating table on time to present their arguments. Sadly, they were ignored for such a long time that they were forced to take a tough decision of halting supplies.
We should keep in mind that a high-level panel constituted by the government had done a study and concluded that in the past two years cost of milk production had risen by 33.83 percent. Based on that conclusion, it had recommended raising milk price by Rs 4 per liter. It’s common knowledge that the prices of inputs including cows, buffaloes, feeds, medicines and nutrients have skyrocketed in the recent past. Recent studies have shown that the cost of production of milk per liter hovers around Rs 30. Private and state-owned dairies, which increased the price by Rs 2 per liter following sustained pressure from dairy farmers, barely leaves the latter with any profit; hence the reason why they are demanding a raise by another Rs 2 per liter.
Increasing the price of milk is not only necessary for providing relief to the farmers but also to retain them in the business. This is vital considering that a lot of farmers are quitting the profession and looking for other professions. The plight of powdered milk factories, which at best are running at half their production capacity due to the paucity of fresh milk, is also a clear indication that there is an urgent need to revise the price of milk, thus motivating dairy farmers to shore up their production.
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