The Hassan Milk Union has increased the milk procurement price by Rs.1.5 per litre from October 1. The milk producers will get Rs. 22.50 per litre, following the move.
Janata Dal (Secular) MLA and union president H.D. Revanna said here on Monday that the union took this decision due to a drought-like situation in the district. “Farmers are facing difficult times due to insufficient rainfall, besides non-availability of water from the Hemavathi River for agriculture.” He said at a recent general body meeting, the milk producers had also demanded hike in the procurement price.
Mr. Revanna said the union registered a profit of Rs. 6.63 crore by the end of August in the curent fiscal. The union would earn further profit of Rs. 3.5 crore in the current month. “We have decided to pass on the profit to the milk producers in the form of procurement price. With the increase in the price, the financial burden on the union in the current year (up to March 31, 2017) would be Rs. 20 crore,” he said.
He also said Hassan union was offering the best price to milk producers despite 70 per cent of the milk procured was utilized for production of other milk products. “Every day, we collect 7.4 lakh litres of milk. Of that, only 30 per cent is sold, while the rest is converted,” he said.
Turnover
The union is expected to record a turnover of Rs.1,000 crore in the current financial year. “When I took over the union as chairman in 1996, the annual turnover of the union was only Rs. 22 crore. The union has bagged the tender to supply milk to the army camp. Starting October, we will be transporting four lakh litres of milk to Indian Army camp at Lekhapani in Assam,” he added.
Hassan Union Managing Director Gopalaiah was present.
