Milk producers' union leader seeks special price hike to sustain dairy farmers in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi

Mangaluru: At a time when the state government is planning to hike milk prices, Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (DKMUL) has urged the government to consider undivided Dakshina Kannada district as a special, and hike the selling price by an additional Rs two to three.

“Whatever price hike is announced by the state government, the DKMUL has urged the government, KMF, minister for animal husbandry and cooperation to increase the selling price by an additional Rs two-three which will be directly transferred to the farmers. The additional hike in selling price is required to sustain dairy farming in DK and Udupi,” said DKMUL President Sucharitha Shetty to mediapersons.

The cost of milk production is high when compared to milk producing districts due to the shortage of green fodder and cattle feed, increase in temperature, the milk production is not as per the expectation.

Stating that the DKMUL has not compromised with the quality and provides customers with high quality milk when compared to neighbouring Kerala, Shetty said, "If additional assistance is not provided to the farmers, there is a possibility of farmers in the bordering villages selling milk to Kerala, where the procurement price is Rs 52 per litre and selling price is between Rs 56 and Rs 62 depending on different variants.”

A similar initiative was taken in the year 2007, when DKMUL was struggling with declining milk production and the government had considered the district as a special one and had announced Rupee 1 additional selling price for DKMUL, which in turn had helped to increase milk production in the district.

The DKMUL is meeting its daily demands by procuring about 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh litre milk from other milk producing districts, he added.