Drought in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts, which are among the highest milk producing districts in Karnataka, has taken its toll on milk production as the average daily milk procurement by Mysore Milk Union has declined by nearly 1 lakh litres in the last couple of months.
The scarcity of water and green fodder in rural areas of the two districts has hit milk production. The union currently procures 4.62 lakh litres of milk a day.
The drop in production will not have any impact on the supply to consumers as only 2.3 lakh litres of milk is packaged every day by the union for distribution in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts under the brand name Nandini.
Every day, about 40,000 litres of milk is used for making curd, 40,000 litres of milk is supplied to Kerala, 5,000 litres of milk is converted into milk powder and the remaining is sent to Mother Dairy, Yelahanka, Bangalore, and the hi-tech milk powder making unit at Channarayapatna in Hassan district.
“Ours (the Mysore milk union) is a surplus milk producing union. Monsoon failure and lack of green fodder has, no doubt, resulted in decreased production,” said Suresh Babu, managing director, Mysore Milk Union.
Mr. Babu told The Hindu that the Board of Directors of the union met here recently and the representatives of producers had raised the issue of water crisis in rural areas. The producers were making efforts to ensure water for their animals from alternative sources, he added.
Nearly 2 lakh litres of milk from Mysore Milk Union was being sent every day to Mother Dairy in Bangalore, the milk powder plant at Channarayapatna, and the dairy at Asangi in Jamkhandi for production of milk powder during the “flush season” in June-July last year. An average of 5.2 lakh litres of milk was procured daily during the flush season last year, he said.
The surplus milk procured by the union has been converted into milk powder in these dairies and stored in deep freezers.
Sources said that one of the reasons for the dip in milk production in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts was distress sale of livestock triggered by fodder shortage.
