Focusing on steps to enhance the income of dairy farmers, the Dairy Development department has decided to control the prices of cattle feed to rein in the spiralling production costs of milk.

A meeting chaired by Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J. Chinchurani here on Tuesday decided against hiking the price of milk and instead focus on enhancing farmers’ returns through other means.

The discussion that was also attended by Milma chairman K.S. Mani noted that State-owned cattle feed manufacturers and those in the cooperative sector had refrained from hiking the price of their products since 2019, despite private companies increasing the prices manifold.

Notwithstanding the increasing production costs, Milma and Kerala Feeds would continue to supply cattle feed at the existing prices in view of the farmers’ woes, the meeting decided.

Dairy farmers would also be additionally remunerated on the basis of the quality of milk supplied. The funds earmarked by Milma, regional cooperative milk producers’ union, Local Self-Government, Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Departments for related purposes would be pooled in for the scheme. The payments would be made through direct benefit transfer before the 10 ^th of each month. Necessary arrangements would be made for the scheme within June 1.

Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union chairman John Theruvath, Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union administrative committee convener N. Bhasurangan, and Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development principal secretary M. Sivasankar, were among those who participated in the meeting.

Source : The Hindu May 10th 2022