Dairies in Maharashtra have decided to increase the price of pouched milk by Rs 2 per litre from Sunday (July 14).
On Saturday, private and cooperative dairies in Maharashtra decided to increase their selling price to match the state government’s base procurement price.
A litre of liquid milk will now cost between Rs 56-58 a litre. Gopalrao Mhaske, chairman of Pune District Cooperative Milk Producers Union (Katraj Dairy) said this decision was made to match the procurement price of Rs 30 a litre for farmers which would enable the state government to provide a production subsidy of Rs 5 per litre to dairy farmers. “We do not want to overburden the consumer also, thus the price is being raised by Rs 2/litre,” he said.
During the budget, the state government announced subsidy for a base procurement price of Rs 30/liter. At present most dairies pay their farmers anything between Rs 25-27 per litre of milk with 3.5 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent SNF(solid not fat). Mhaske said the dairies would increase the procurement price to match the government’s base price. “This would help the farmers get a decent procurement price,” he said.
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Dairy farmers in the state have been protesting against lower than expected procurement prices. They say increased cost of production has seen their books going into the red and have demanded Rs 40 a litre as the minimum procurement price.
Source: Indian Express
