Chennai: With production outpacing demand, the milk market in Tamil Nadu stares at a crisis. Protesting that milk societies are not attending the surplus issue, several dairy farmers in Tirupur district recently threw away milk near one of the plants of state-run milk procurer and processor - Aavin. Milk producers in areas like Salem and Karur also staged similar protests, pouring thousands of litres of milk on the roads, alleging that societies were not procuring milk from them.
Thanks to the free milch cow schemes and various other government programmes, milk production in the state has increased in the past two years. Further, recent rain in many parts of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states also facilitated green fodder growth, which resulted in increased milk production. However, procurement has not increased accordingly.“We are currently handling 30.5 lakh litres of milk per day. It was 24 lakhs litres four years ago,” said a spokesperson of Aavin. “With skimmed milk powder (SMP) prices down globally, many private diary vendors have reduced procuring and are forcing us to buy the milk. However, we have regular milk suppliers and cannot increase procurement of excess milk overnight,” explained the spokesperson.
He added that though some private players have brought down their procurement prices, they have not decreased the retail prices. According to him, domestically, SMP prices have dropped from Rs300 last year to Rs150 this year, because of which private dairies are not procuring milk. Globally, SMP prices was down to $2,467 a tonne on April 1, from $4,126 a year ago and the peak of $5,142 two years ago.
Mr R.G. Chandramogan, chairman and managing director of Hatsun Agro, one of the major private players, said the state has recorded 15 per cent increase in milk production this year compared to a year ago.“The demand for milk and milk-based products such as ice creams are stable. However, one part of our milk procured goes to milk powder which market is down,” he said. India produces 5-6 lakh tonnes of SMP a year. Of this, 90,000-1,20,000 tonnes are exported. About 25 per cent of Hatsun’s milk goes into milk powder production.
Industry experts say that nationally, co-operative dairies are receiving record quantity of milk. “During the past five years, our milk procurement has witnessed phenomenal increase of
65 per cent,” said Mr R.S. Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Manufacturing Federation (GCMMF)) that owns the Amul brand. GCMMF, which is the largest dairy cooperative of the country, processes 23.7 million litres a day. It has also increased its milk price to Rs 2 per litre to keep procurement prices stable. The Karnataka Milk Federation which owns the Nandini brand, has a total processing capacity of 6.4 million litres.
Long queue speaks for itself
Even as the first rays of the sun fall on Mamandur, a village of around 10,000 people, Bala Raman, 63, alights from his bike near a modest looking building that houses the Mamandur milk producers cooperative society. Removing the bindings that secure two huge milk cans, each of 50-litre capacity, to his bike, Raman walks up to Durai, who is responsible for testing the quality of the milk, and hands over the two cans. Set up in 1963, the cooperative society, which currently has around 700 members, has seen the amount of milk procured from individual producers increase substantially over the last few years.
“Notwithstanding a drop in sales observed in the market, we have recorded an increase in the procurement of milk. While last year, around 1,700 litres were procured every day, this year it has increased to more than 2,000 litres,” says M. Durai, who is in charge of the society. While the numbers speak for themselves, there are those who cautiously express their doubts. Ulaganathan (65), who stood behind Raman, has been consistently giving around 30 litres every day (on an average, each member gives 10 litres).
However, he remarks that there have been incidents of dairy farmers being unable to give milk. “The present government has ensured decent procurement rates for us, besides sanctioning several welfare schemes aimed at boosting the sector. However, I have noticed here as well as elsewhere (he cites the example of Salem where farmers protested) that additional milk is being refused during the flush season,” he said.
This is precisely why Raman quickly clarified that the milk he brings along daily to the society is not solely his, but the collective produce of around 30 people from his village of Vazhavandal, 5 km away from Mamandur.“It’s well known that no one can live solely depending on cows any more. Most of us (dairy farmers) only have two cows at the most, thereby producing only small quantities. As limited yield gives meagre income, we consider dairy farming only as an additional vocation,” says Raman.
