Kochi: A group of dairy farmers on Monday held protest over failure to get remunerative prices for milk and demanded that the government fix procurement price at Rs 60 per litre.
The protest under banner of the ‘Kerala Aggressive Dairy Farmers Association’ (KADFA) saw farmers pour milk from over Muvattupuzha ‘Valiyapalam’ bridge against the “inaction” on the part of the state government and the MILMA (Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation) to protect their interests.
“The government should start milk booths to be operated by dairy farmers by providing 75 per cent subsidy, similar to Maharashtra model. Dairy farmers should also be included under the employment guarantee scheme,” said Sebastian Turuttipilli, state president.
Another demand was to lower the price of cattle feed on an urgent basis. “The farmers are incurring a substantial expense in maintenance of the cattle and find it difficult to make a living with the current rate. While MILMA is selling milk at Rs 44 per litre, they pay farmers only Rs 32 per litre,” he added.
