The Shivamogga Milk Union Ltd. (SHIMUL), a unit of Karnataka Milk Federation, has enhanced the price at which milk is procured by ₹1.35 per litre. With this, milk producers will get ₹32.6 per litre, that includes ₹27.6 paid by SHIMUL and ₹5 paid by the State government as incentive. Earlier, SHIMUL procured milk for ₹26.25 per litre. The price enhancement came into effect from April 6. This is for the second time that SHIMUL enhanced the price in 2017.
SHIMUL chairman Jagadeeshappa Banakar told The Hindu that in the wake of drought in the region for the second consecutive year, the cost incurred by farmers for milk production had raised. The districts of Shivamogga, Davangere and Chitradurga that come under the jurisdiction of SHIMUL were reeling under the problem of fodder shortage.
The price of a tonne of fodder that was at ₹5,800 in 2016 had been enhanced to ₹11,000. The raise in the price of fodder had resulted in enhancement of production cost owing to which the profit margin of the milk producers had declined. The milk producers had requested SHIMUL to enhance the procurement cost. The meeting of the managing committee of the union held recently decided to enhance the procurement price, he said.SHIMUL procures 4.35 lakh litres of milk daily from its network of 1,087 primary milk producers cooperative societies in the three districts. Mr. Banakar said that over 65,000 milk producers in the districts would benefit from the decision.
