Milk price hike brings relief to dairy farmers

Following the ₹8-per-litre milk price hike, dairy farmers have welcomed the decision, saying it will help them cover the rising costs of feeding and maintaining their cattle.

Hemanth Doddy, a dairy farmer from Byramangala, said, “I am happy that the price of milk has increased as it will help farmers. At present, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) provides farmers with cattle feed and mineral mixture, but we have to pay for them. Farmers also buy different varieties of cattle feed from local farmers, mill owners and private vendors, apart from the feed provided by KMF. Grass also has to be purchased separately. A 50 kg bag of cattle feed costs ₹1,250, while mineral mixture costs around ₹40 per kg. Grass for cattle costs ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 per tonne. Apart from this, we also need to mix husk, which is bought from mills.”

Mr. Hemanth added, “A variety of husk costs ranging from ₹1,250 to ₹1,700 for 30 to 34 kgs. For instance, if a farmer sells 10 litres of milk in one day, he can earn ₹450 per day, of which ₹200 can be deducted as expenses incurred and ₹200 as profit.”

He also noted that milk production cannot be constant, especially during drought conditions like the present year. In such instances, farmers incur heavy losses as they cannot stop feeding cows just because milk production is low.

Another dairy farmer, Purushotham from Bidadi, said, “KMF pays ₹36 to farmers to procure one litre of milk, which is low when compared to some independent farmers earning ₹55 per litre by selling milk to apartments and individual houses. Now that the price of milk has increased, I hope that the government doesn’t increase the price of cattle feed and other materials we buy from KMF at subsidised prices. The price of cattle feed has remained the same for the past two years.”