Threat of dairy imports remains: expert

Even as the dairy sector has been exempted from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the threat of getting dairy products from US and Europe still remains, said Jayen Mehta, head, Anand Dairy, Gujarat.

He was speaking at a one-day national conference organised by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene here on Saturday. He said that even as a postcard campaign initiated by women dairy farmers stopped PM Narendra Modi from including dairy in RCEP, US and European countries were looking at opportunities to enter the Indian market.

Mehta explained that even as these countries produced milk in excess, the consumption was very less. Australia, for instance, he said, had 6,300 farmers and they were dependent on exports for a living as the domestic market was very small. He explained, “The US now has a stock of cheese that will suffice India’s cheese consumption for 12 years. Hence the push. When countries export cheese, if they also send the whey powder, it will lead to the availability of poor quality milk in the market at a low price, while the quality product will take a beating.”

Agriculture economist Devendra Sharma said farmers were bearing the brunt as the government has been giving a push to the industrial sector, neglecting agriculture.

“The price of raw materials have remained the same over the last 30-40 years, notwithstanding the inflation. The cost of products that industries produce, however, increased constantly,” he said.