'Milk price hike thrills farmers'

Government contemplating introducing insurance scheme for dairy farmers

Addressing mediapersons here on Saturday, Reddy said a 30 to 40 per cent increase in the collection of milk was expected. There has been a good response from the farmers of Kolar district. With hike of Rs three in the prices of milk per litre, the farmers will now be getting Rs 2.50 more. The farmers are extremely happy with this measure, he claimed.

When questioned that the hike will be a burden on the consumers, Somasekhara justified the latest hike stating that the milk price had not been hiked for the last three years. When compared to other states, the milk price in Karnataka was less, he asserted. The Government is contemplating to introduce insurance scheme for dairy farmers on the lines of Kolhapur model, Reddy said.

Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 350 to Rs 400 deposits will be taken from the farmers, who will in return get Rs three lakh to four lakh insurance. The families of farmers, cattle, fodder, house, etc, will get insurance coverage. One-third of the deposit amount should be paid by the farmers and the rest will be borne by the respective milk federations and the KMF, Reddy said.

He said the secretaries of the Milk Producers Associations will be getting 20 paise per litre as incentive. This will encourage the secretaries to show keen interest in collecting more milk.

The Government had released an amount of Rs 70 crore on Friday to repay the incentive pending till February 28, to the dairy farmers. Till now, every week three-lorry loads of Nandini ghee used to be sent to Tirupathi Thirumala Temple for the preparation of laddoos. Now there is a demand for one lorry load of ghee (700 kg) per day, the president informed.