Farmers in 59 districts across the country have taken to the streets, claiming that the hike in milk price by Rs 2 per liter is insufficient. They are demanding the government to raise the price of fresh milk by Rs 4 per liter, as recommended by a high-level panel formed by the government.
Fresh milk collected by DDC, the state-owned dairy producer, dropped by 60 percent to around 40,000 liters on Sunday, according to Ajab Lal Yadav, chairman and general manager of the DDC. On normal conditions, DDC, which enjoys a commanding market share of more than 50 percent, used to collect more than 100,000 liters of milk every day.“
"We are compelled to increase the quantity of powdered milk in the fresh milk, as the collection of fresh milk has gone down significantly due to farmers´ protect," Yadav told myrepublica.com on Sunday.
The ongoing protest has come as a big blow to dairy firms, which were already increasing the quantity of powdered milk due to low supply in this lean season.
Yadav said the DDC was not in a position to further extend the row which has resulted in low supplies. He, however, ruled out the possibility of raising the milk price by Rs 4 per liter as demanded by the farmers.
Private dairy firms also said that they had no option but to increase the quantity of powdered milk to maintain their supplies in the market.
Meanwhile, dairy farmers continued their protest on Sunday as well. They blocked major highways across the country from 10 am till 12 noon on Sunday. They also organized mass meets in key milk producing districts, including Chitwan, Kavre, Dhading, Kapilvastu and Bhaktapur.
Dhaka Ram Aryal, chairman of Central Dairy Cooperatives, said farmers continued to disrupt the movement of tankers ferrying milk, organized sit-ins before chilling centers and production plants of dairy firms and organized mass meets in various districts. Aryal also claimed the supplies of fresh milk had dropped to around 10 percent due to their protest at different entry points adjoining the capital city, which holds 80 percent of the total dairy market.
Agitating farmers took five tankers - three belonging to the DDC and two operated by private dairy firms - under their control from Mahadevbesi of Dhading on Sunday. They also seized three tankers - one of the DDC and two of private firms - from Ramnagar and Jyamire in Chitwan. The farmers also padlocked chilling centers and collection booths of DDC in Rupandehi.
The farmers´ protest has compelled over 450 dairy firms across the country to rely on powdered milk to maintain their supplies. Some 300,000 farmers across the country supply half a million liters of milk a day through about 1,500 cooperatives to the dairy firms.
As per the recommendation made by the panel, the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operative (MoAC) had directed DDC to raise the price and had also directed the Dairy Development Board (DDB) -- the dairy regulator -- to implement the decision. However, the dairy firms, which are free to fix the prices on their own, chose to increase the retail prices only by Rs 2 per liter.
Farmers say the increment would mean nothing for them as they get only two paisa to Rs 1.26 per liter.
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