The milk producers in Orissa have urged the government to increase the procurement price of milk by at least Rs 6 per litre.
This is necessary as the cooperative milk organizations in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and several privately run milk processing units are offering higher price than the price fixed by the state-owned Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producer Federation Limited (OMFED), the milk producers said.
“While OMFED is buying milk from us at Rs 13 to Rs 18 per liter depending on the quality, the Andhra Pradesh based Bijaya Visakha Dairy Cooperative is giving Rs 6 to Rs 7 higher per liter”, said general secretary of Ganjam and Gajapati district milk producers’ federation Ramesh Chandra Padhy said.
The milk procurement in Ganjam and Gajapati districts by the Greater Ganjam and Gajapati Districts Cooperative Milk Producers Union (GGGDCMPU), a unit of the OMFED, has already been affected as several producers in the inter-state border areas prefer to sell their milk to Visakha Dairy.
There are around 4,000 Milk Producers’ Cooperative Societies (MPCS) under OMFED, whose main objective is to promote, produce, procure, process and market milk and milk products. The annual turnover of OMFED is about Rs 350-crore.
The milk producers, however, alleged that OMFED was not paying remunerative price to them though the price of the milk in the open market is much higher.
“Orissa is the only state where the milk producers are getting lower rate compare to other states,” said Kishor Chandra Padhy, president GGGDCMPU.
Also Read
While Andhra Pradesh is offering Rs 21 per liter to the milk producers, Gujarat is paying them Rs 25 per liter. Similarly Chhattisgarh and Karnataka governments are providing incentives to the milk producers who supply to their respective apex societies.
The officials of GGGDCMPU admitted that milk procurement was “marginally affected” in the border areas due to price variation in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. But they claimed OMFED was providing several other benefits to the members of the societies.
General Manager, GGGDCMPU P. Ganagadhar Dora said benefits like subsidy in cattle feed, growing grass and health check up and supply of medicines for animals were being offered under different government schemes.