The poor monsoon and prolonged dry spell in the last couple of months has not just affected agricultural activities but has also had an adverse effect on milk production, which has come down significantly.
While Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts together produced 7,52,000 litres of milk on Ocotber 17, 2015, the figure on the same day this year stands at 6,38,000 litres. M.S. Vijayakumar, managing director of the Mysuru Milk Union Ltd. (MYMUL) and K.S. Narasimha Murthy, manager of MYMUL, toldThe Hinduon Tuesday that milk production in both the districts during October 2015 was around 7,25,000 litres on an average. They further said that the production from October 1 to 17, 2015, was around 6,55,000 litres on an average.
The said that MYMUL is contemplating discontinuing sale of milk to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in the wake of fall in milk production. Over one lakh litre of milk is being supplied to the two States from MYMUL.
Explaining about the lean and flush period in milk production, Mr. Narasimha Murthy said the production dips during the lean period and increase during the flush period. In Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts, the lean period is from January to the end of April and the flush period is from May to December. The fall in production during this year’s flush period has come as a shock to MYMUL, which is taking steps to help farmers enhance milk production to ensure that the production does not dip any further.
Meanwhile, Mallikarjunaswamy, manager (procurement and input), MYMUL, told The Hindu that non-availability of green fodder owing to drought contributed to the decline in the milk production. However, he claimed that MYMUL, through societies, is supplying cattle-feed and mineral mixtures to cattle. Mr. Vijayakumar said that besides green fodder, non-availability of water was also an important reason for the fall in milk production. “A cow needs at least 25 litres of water each day ... most of the tanks in Mysuru district have gone dry this year owing to poor rains depriving animals of water,” he added.
