Karnataka milk price hike justified by rising cost of production: D.K. Suresh

D.K. Suresh, president of Bamul, speaking to The Hindu in Bengaluru on Friday.

Defending the recent hike in the price of milk and curd by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), the president of Bengaluru Milk Union Ltd., D.K. Suresh, said that if the hike had not been implemented, there were fears of dairy farmers giving up owing to meagre earnings.

Despite the hike in the price of milk in the range of ₹8 to ₹12 per litre and curd by ₹14 a kg, the price of milk was still lower in Karnataka compared to the prevailing price in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (₹66 a litre), Gujarat (₹57 a litre) and Uttar Pradesh (₹59 a litre), Mr. Suresh told The Hindu on Friday.

“Farmers had been demanding an upward revision of the procurement price for the last six months. The cost of oil cake has increased by up to 80%, while the cost of bran, maize and cattle feed has increased by 49%. The price of maize per tonne has increased from ₹22,000 to ₹35,000 a tonne. The cost of soya cake has increased from ₹35,000 to ₹64,000 a tonne. There is a severe shortage of green fodder. Farmers would have moved away from dairy farming if the procurement price had not been increased,” he said, defending the hike. The Bangalore Urban, Rural and Ramanagara District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Societies Union Ltd. (Bamul) president also said that farmers could start selling milk to private milk dairies that pay them ₹42 per litre.

After the latest round of price revision, the farmers are receiving ₹42 per litre as the procurement price, while they also get ₹5 per litre as an incentive.

Mr. Suresh claimed that the KMF had witnessed an increase in the procurement of milk by about 10 lakh litres after the increase in the procurement price. On average, the KMF is now procuring 1.16 crore litres a day. “Unemployment and migration have also declined as young people are buying one or two cows and selling milk to the KMF. The government incentive of ₹5 per litre is also encouraging dairy farmers. The government spends about ₹2,500 crores annually.”

Elaborating on the cost of producing milk for the district unions, he said that the cost of plastic crates, culture used in curd, fat used in milk, furnace oil, commercial diesel and gas, refrigeration and electricity had all gone up since the war began in West Asia, besides the cost of ESI and Provident Fund. “The cost of furnace oil has gone up by 40%; commercial diesel costs ₹115 a litre, a commercial gas cylinder is ₹600, and the cost of a crate has gone from ₹250 to ₹360. The overall production cost has increased by at least 40%,” he said.

Bamul president D.K. Suresh said that a slight downward revision in curd prices is expected post Deepavali. “We have to follow the instructions of the government to reduce the price of curd. It will be reduced after Deepavali, after holding a meeting with the presidents of milk unions across the State. Revised prices will be released soon,” he said. The price of one litre of curd is ₹68 per litre now.