Milkfed unable to meet rising Verka demand

In the capital region comprising Chandigarh,Mohali and Panchkula alone,there has been an increase of 17,000 thousand litres of milk every day,as compared to last year. Since there has not been a corresponding increase in procurement,Milkfed is finding it difficult to meet with the increasing demand.

Speaking to The Indian Express,Milkfed Managing Director J S Kahlon said the shortage in the supply of milk was being felt due to diverse factors. “We are seeing a steady fall in the number of small and marginal farmers,who were supplying five to 10 litres of milk daily at our procurement centres across the state,” he said.

Kahlon added that these were committed contributors of fresh milk to Milkfed,but have dropped out due to economic considerations. Small dairy farmers are now finding that rearing three to five animals in the backyard dairy is not a profit-making proposition and thus,are selling their animals.

“From being contributors to the milk pool,they are now preferring to buy milk from the same pool. There has been a healthy increase in the number of commercial dairy farmers in the state,but supply has not been enough to meet with the demands of increased urbanisation and more paying capacity,” he said.

Daljit Singh,president of Progressive Dairy Farmers Association pointed out that some commercial dairy farmers are now moving away from being suppliers to Milkfed and are contributing to smaller private milk plants. “Since these private plants are offering higher remuneration,dairy farmers are preferring to sell the milk there,” he said.

Kahlon admitted that some private milk plants are offering higher remuneration to farmers. “These private players can immediately offer a small price hike to farmers to buy milk. The same flexibility is not easy for a large entity like Milkfed. An increase in procurement price also forces us to increase milk prices,hence,it has to be a very carefully considered option for us,” he said.

The procurement is expected to be better later this month,since most cows will come into breeding by late-September or October and will then yield a good supply. Kahlon said that earlier,breeding of cows was mostly done in August,but dairy farmers have managed to push it further by about 40 to 50 days,by manipulating artificial insemination.

Meanwhile,a shortage in the supply of Verka desi ghee is also being seen in the market. Milkfed officials said that summer is traditionally a time when milk supply goes down. A regular practice is to reconstitute milk by using stocks of milk fat and powder milk.

Since these stocks are now being used in greater numbers to add to the availability of fresh milk,there isn’t enough white butter to make desi ghee,causing a shortage in this category.

Last month,Milkfed had increased the price of its desi ghee by Rs 10 per litre. The 1 litre carton of desi ghee is now available for Rs 285 and the tin for Rs 290.