The Hassan Milk Union has increased the milk procurement price by Rs. 1.5 per litre from October 1. Following this decision, milk producers will get Rs. 22.50 per litre.
Janata Dal (Secular) MLA and union president H.D. Revanna, in a press conference here on Monday, said the union had taken this decision owing to the prevalence of a drought-like situation in the district. “Farmers are facing difficult times because of the loss of rainfall and the non-availability of Hemavati water for agriculture,” he said. At a recently held general body meeting, the producers had demanded that the procurement price be hiked.
Mr. Revanna said the union had registered a profit of Rs. 6.63 crore in the current financial year by the end of August 2016. Besides this, the union would be getting a profit of another Rs.3.5 crore in the current month. “We have decided to pay the profit to the milk producers in the form of a procurement price. With the increase in the price, the financial burden on the union in the current year (up to March 31) will be Rs. 20 crore,” he sad.
Mr. Revanna said the Hassan union was offering the producers the best price despite the fact that 70 per cent of the milk procured was being used for conversion. “Everyday, we collect 7.4 lakh litres of milk. Of this, only 30 per cent is sold, while the rest is converted to be used in milk products,” he said. 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 was only Rs. 22 crore. It has grown all these years. In October, we will be transporting 4 lakh litres of milk to Indian Army camp at Lekhapani in Assam. The union has bagged the tender to supply milk to the army camp,” he said.
Hassan Union Managing Director Gopalaiah was also present at the press conference.
