Thiruvananthapuram: Fall in daily domestic milk production from 11 lakh litres to 9.8 lakh litres during the last three months was one of the reasons that led to hike in Milma prices. The fall comes at a time when the state needs 13.60 lakh litres of milk per day. It has forced Milma to buy more milk from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Milma chairman P.T. Gopala Kurup said that Milma has been getting about 4 lakh litres of milk from neighbouring states to meet the daily supply requirements as the domestic production had become inadequate.
Statistics show that there was a fall of 80,000 litres daily from the milk produced during the same period last year, Mr Kurup said. The shortage of green fodder and water due to the lack of rainfall and the rise in temperature, are the reasons for the decline in milk production, Mr Kurup said. Apart from the prices of milk, the price of skimmed milk curd has been also increased. The new prices for 400 gram packet of curd will be Rs 22 and 500 gram packet Rs 25. From the increased amount, Rs 3.35 will be given to dairy farmers.
The Milk Cooperative society will get 16 paise and distribution agent 16 paise and 14 paise would be earmarked for the regional unions and procurement, processing and packing and a small portion will be given as dividend to the milk workers welfare board, Mr Kurup said. Sources said that a ministerial committee had accepted the recommendation of Milma to increase the price. After this, Milma’s director board met here on Thursday to give a final nod to the decision to raise the prices.
