Covid-19: As milk prices fall in Maharashtra, dairy farmers feel the squeeze

Dairy farmers in Maharashtra have begun to really feel the pinch of the lockdown with procurement selling prices of milk dipping by twenty to fifty per cent. Drop in their money also means decreased quantity of feed getting presented to cattle.

Due to lack of desire, farmers who used to make processed milk items these types of as curd, butter, ghee and khoya as a cottage market, now promote milk at decreased prices in the market. Khoya is an middleman milk merchandise, which is used as a raw material for building common sweets.

Farmer chief and Basic Secretary (Maharashtra) of All India Kisan Sabha, Ajit Navale, mentioned that thanks to the lockdown, milk desire from places to eat, tea stalls and sweet retailers has occur to a standstill. The State Authorities has certain that 11 lakh litres of extra milk will be procured per working day from farmers by the cooperative dairies for which cash would be supplied by the State Authorities. Having said that, it has not translated into more money for the farmers.

Navale mentioned that prior to the lockdown, cow milk was offered by farmers at ₹30 to ₹35 now, it has dipped to ₹20 to ₹22. In some places, it has even dipped to ₹12 per litre. This milk is getting procured by personal dairies. On the other hand, thanks to logistics problems, animal feed provides have grow to be irregular, main to a appreciable leap in selling prices.

Dairy farmer Shankar Dandge from Matola village in close proximity to Nandura town in Buldhana district sells milk to community clients and dairies, as the well known Nandura khoya market has been shut down because of the pandemic. In advance of lockdown, the level about Nandura was ₹35 per litre for cow milk now, he is forced to promote milk at ₹25 per litre.

Dandge mentioned that each day milk generation from his cows is a hundred litres. The ₹10 dip in selling prices has translated in per working day losses of ₹1,000 for him. And due to the fact money has declined, the animals too are finding lesser feed.

Farmer Arpan Sontakke from village Takarkheda Much more, Anjangaon Surji taluk in Amravati district, is also in the very same boat. Milk was getting procured about Anjangaon Surji at ₹38 per litre this has now slid to ₹27 per litre. Due to the losses, he has now offered 1 cow to yet another farmer.

Sontakke laments that he just can not manage to feed the very same amount of fodder and cattle cake to his cows. Before, he used to feed a a few-kg cattle feed cake, which has now been slashed to 1.five kg because of decreased earnings from the sale of milk.

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