Maha to procure 10 lakh litres milk to overcome glut
MUMBAI: Prakash Kutwal, secretary, Milk Producers and Processors' Welfare Federation, said that while the collection of milk has not been affected, sale of milk has dropped significantly.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday has decided to procure 10 lakh litres of milk per day at Rs 25 per litre.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the collection of milk would begin in 4-5 days and continue for two months. He said the coronavirus outbreak and the resultant lockdown had hit the dairy sector hard and almost 10 lakh litres of the 12 lakh litres of milk produced was going unsold and market rates per litre had reached a low of Rs 15 -17.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, a new report talks about the troubles faced by dairy farmers in the midst of the lockdown, as their supply has reportedly dropped by 25 per cent. This is primarily due to the closure of local tea outlets, restaurants, and mithai shops, which has hit the milk farmers pretty hard. This also means that they're facing significant losses owing to existing stock which cannot be effectively stored.
As per data provided by state authorities, a total of 34.4 lakh
litres of milk was distributed in Mumbai on the 21st of March, the day before the Janata Curfew officially started. But as of this past Sunday, only 25.2 lakh
litres of milk was supplied to distributors in the city.
Further, Dairy farmers in Kerala are bearing the brunt of the 21-day-lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of pandemic virus, as the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, better known as MILMA, stopped milk procurement on Wednesday due to excess stock with them.
The decision was following the neighbouring Tamil Nadu deciding to halt the procurement of milk from Kerala as they have enough and extra stock following the lockdown.
Kerala Minister K Raju tol reporters that talks have been held with dairy units in Tamil Nadu to send the excess milk from Kerala to manufacture milk powder. "We are holding discussions with many companies in Tamil Nadu. The discussion is to convert excess milk in the state to manufacture milk powder in the factories there," Raju said.