Not here to safeguard consumers, says Karnataka minister on milk price hike

Making a case for milk prices to be increased, Karnataka Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna on Wednesday argued in favour of a hike by saying consumers should be ready to pay up.

At a news conference, Rajanna countered a question on the "burden" this would have on consumers.

"What burden? When they can pay for water, why not for milk? We’re here to safeguard the interests of [milk] producers, not consumers,” Rajanna said.

Milk unions have demanded a hike of Rs 5 per litre of milk.

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The last hike was effected in November 2022 when the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) upped the prices of milk and curd by Rs 2 per litre. The Nandini brand of toned milk currently retails at Rs 39 a litre.

Rajanna argued that the cost of milk production has risen. "Because of that, many milk producers are backing out. That's why milk production is decreasing. Animal cost, feed cost, handling charges...everything has gone up. This being the situation, we can't expect farmers to produce milk by incurring losses," he said.

The minister claimed that several KMF directors now have only 25 cows as opposed to 100 before. "Milk producers are in dire straits. So, we need to make sure they make a reasonable profit," he said.

Rajanna also pointed out that there is severe competition from neighbouring states that are offering Rs 2 more than what milk unions here give to producers.

Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh said a decision on hiking milk prices will be made after discussing it with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “We are in favour of running KMF in a ‘no-profit-no-loss’ model. And for this to remain functional, it has become necessary to increase the price of milk," he observed.

Newly-elected KMF chairperson Bheema Naik said all milk unions in the state want a hike of Rs 5 per litre. However, unlike Rajanna, Naik said a decision will be taken keeping both farmers and consumers in mind. "Consumers and farmers are like the two eyes of the KMF," he said.

About a fortnight ago, Siddaramaiah pulled up the KMF for ‘unilaterally’ deciding to reduce the incentive price provided to dairy farmers in the state to overcome losses.