Due to low milk procurement from farmers and rise in demand, the Karimnagar Milk Producer Company Limited (Karimnagar Dairy) has decided to increase milk procurement and sale prices from March 1 and March 2 respectively.
A decision to this effect was taken at the 58th board of directors’ meeting of the dairy here on Tuesday. The dairy had increased the milk procurement rate by ₹ 2 per litre and milk sales also by ₹ 2 per litre of various brands.
Speaking to The Hindu , Karimnagar Dairy chairman Ch Rajeshwara Rao said that they had decided to increase the prices to increase the procurement as well as meet the demand from consumers. “As ours is a farmer-owned dairy, we will ensure that there is no loss and no profit,” he maintained.
Following bountiful rainfall and filling up of all irrigation tanks, the farmers, who were unable to take up cultivation in the last few years due to drought, had taken up cultivation of paddy and other crops on a large-scale this season and showed less interest in dairy units. Mr Rajeshwara Rao said that the farmers show interest in dairying only during drought as alternative source of income and subsequently, the Karimnagar dairy used to get more milk in the summer. But, this time it is the other way round, he added.
The decision to increase milk procurement price was taken only to encourage the farmers to take up dairying as additional source of income along with agriculture and earn profits as well as provide milk to the dairy to meet the growing demand in Telangana State, he said.
He claimed that Karimnagar dairy was still paying the highest amount to farmers for the procurement of milk compared to the Telangana State Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited.
He said that Karimnagar dairy was the only dairy in the State to provide several welfare schemes for the milk producers such as Kalyanamastu (distribution of 2.5 grams of gold thali and silver mettalu), Palanidhi, pension for the milk producers, scholarships for their children, insurance for the milch animals, conduct of veterinary camps at the farmers’ doorstep etc.
