If Nanje Gowda, a farmer at Kirugavulu in Mandya district, has sold off all three cows and stopped dairy farming in the last two years, his friends Nanjunde Gowda and Nage Gowda have reduced the number of cows as the rising cost of feed and fodder, coupled with an unattractive remuneration, has hit the dairy industry hard.
Across Southern Karnataka districts of Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Kolar, and Hassan, where dairy farming has provided a source of livelihood and supplemented income over the decades, farmers are now feeling the heat of price rise. Most holdings among farmers in the State has been estimated by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) to be between one and three cows.
“The government increased the price by ₹2 per litre of milk in the retail market recently and passed on the same to farmers. But the cost of feed, which was about ₹800 for a 50-kg bag, increased to over ₹1,100. This would cost around ₹800 two years ago,” said Nagaraju, a resident of Malavalli in Mandya district.
