Milk will be dearer in Kerala from Monday. The decision to raise the price, Rs.3 a litre on an average for different varieties, was taken considering the mounting production cost for dairy farmers, said Milma chairman P.T. Gopala Kurup at a press meet in Kozhikode on Thursday.
As much as 80 per cent of the hike will go to farmers and the rest will be distributed among primary milk cooperative societies, distribution agencies, dairy farmers welfare schemes, and different regional unions of the milk marketing federation, besides other developmental purposes, Mr. Kurup said.
This is the third time Milma was increasing the milk price ever since the High Court order in September 2011, permitting the federation to hold the sole right to decide the price.
Stating that there was a palpable boost in the production and sale of milk during the last few years in Kerala, the Milma chairman said the daily domestic procurement of milk in Kerala had increased from 6.73 lakh litres in 2010 to 10.26 lakh litres in 2014.
Record improvement
“This is a record improvement so far in the history of Milma,” he said. and maintained that the State was fast moving towards self-reliance in milk production. He expressed confidence that the federation was expecting to achieve it in not less than two years if the current trend in the milk production continued. “We will be able to keep the momentum only by ensuring sufficient returns for the farmers,” he said.
