The Wayanad Primary Milk Societies Association, an apex organisation of primary milk cooperatives in the district, has decided to increase the price of milk from ₹46 to ₹50 a litre from Saturday to lend a helping hand to dairy farmers.
Addressing the media here on Friday, association president B.P. Benny said 56 milk cooperative societies were functioning in the district and they were procuring around 2,65,000 litres of milk a day from farmers, of which 2,50,000 litres were being sold to Milma at an average price of ₹39 a litre. The remaining quantity was sold locally after using 30,000 litres for making value-added products, he added.
Dairy farmers in the State were facing a crisis owing to the rising input costs. Farmers had to spent ₹50 to produce a litre of milk, but they were getting only an average of ₹36 a litre, he said.
Hundreds of farmers had left the sector owing to huge losses. A decline of 15% was recorded in milk production in the district this year after many farmers left the sector. Hence, the government and Milma should hike the farm gate price of milk to ₹50 a litre to address the crisis, he said.
