Milk Prices Likely to Go up by Rs. 8 per litre in Kerala

The committee will inform the state government of its decision regarding the issue after a meeting on Monday.

In its recommendations, the committee has asked for a price hike of Rs 7-8 per litre, citing the demands of the farmers. In its interim report submitted on Sunday, the company said that the farmers will be able to get the fair price for the milk production (excluding commission), only if this demand is met.

The report states that the present earning of a farmer is Rs 38-40 per litre, while the cost of milk production stands at Rs 46. The committee recommended that the price hike should be implemented in order to provide at least Rs 6 profit to farmers on one litre of milk.

It further said that the current insurance scheme is not sufficient and there is a need to implement cattle health insurance.

The report also stressed on the need to expand silage production and veterinary services, along with providing subsidies on cattle fodder to make it more affordable for producers.

The meeting on Sunday was held at Milma headquarters in presence of Milma chairman K.S. Mani, Trivandrum Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union Administrative Committee Convener N. Bhasurangan, Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union chairman M.T. Jayan, and other members of KCMMF and the regional committees.

Earlier, the programme committee was formed in September this year to look at the issue and derive a conclusion in a detailed report. The committee consisted of experts from Kerala Agriculture University and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

Meanwhile, milk prices had witnessed a sharp jump in last month after dairy brand Amul (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) raised the prices of its Amul Gold and Buffalo Milk by ₹2 per litre across all states expect Gujarat.

RS Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF, while citing the reason for this price hike said in a press conference, "Prices have been increased by ₹2 per litre for Amul Gold and buffalo milk due to increase in fat prices".

This was followed by Mother Dairy raising the price of its full cream and cow milk by Rs 27 per litre in the Delhi-NCR region, while it had increased the prices for same earlier in August this year.