Karnataka milk producers want prices hiked as input costs go up

The forum plans to hold protest demonstrations at the village till their demands are met

The milk producers’ forum held a demonstration at Freedom Park here on Wednesday, demanding a hike in milk prices.

The forum plans to hold protest demonstrations at the village, district and zonal levels till the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and the government respond to their demands.

“We request the government and KMF to take into account the rise in input and production costs and raise the price of milk,” said forum president M R Narayana Gowda at the protest.

“Our movement is not just against the government. We have lost faith in KMF as well. They have proposed a price hike, which is not sufficient for us to recover our losses,” said Prabhakar, a member of the forum.

He said farmers want direct representation at the union level.

“The unions and cooperatives continue to profit from sales, but the farmers are at loss,” he said.

When contacted, KMF sources said that the chairman, on behalf of the presidents of Karnataka’s 14 dairy unions, had submitted a proposal to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, seeking a price hike of Rs 3 to 5 per litre of milk early this year.

“This will make the price of milk Rs 40 per litre. The increase will benefit farmers,” he said.

An official said that the prices of fuel, electricity, corrugated packaging boxes for milk, cattle feed and industrial furnace oil had gone up by 35-40% in the last two years.

The disruption in the supply chain and dip in sales caused by Covid-19 had caused losses to the farmers, he said.

According to the producers’ association, the cost of producing a litre of milk is anywhere between Rs 34 and Rs 35, but the remuneration given to farmers by dairy unions is Rs 24 on an average.

However, KMF says the average price given to farmers is Rs 28 per litre. The Rs 5 incentive provided by the government takes the final amount to Rs 33 per litre.