Can’t fix price (MSP) for milk: Govt

In the Action Taken Report tabled in Rajya Sabha today,the department has replied that “there would be significant practical difficulties in implementing a nation-wide MSP for milk and it would also introduce an element of distortion in the market if it is implemented.”

The department pointed out that it would require huge infrastructure facilities to procure milk from farmers.

“As milk is highly perishable and needs to be processed within a few hours from milking of the animals,implementing a minimum support price would require establishment of a large network of milk handling/processing facilities…,” the department said.

In order to handle the milk offered by the producers,the department said that the government would require millions of milk cans,hundreds of silos to store millions of litres of milk,thousands of tankers to transport milk.

Stating that the organised sector only handles about one-third of the marketable surplus of milk,the department said: “there would be difficulties in enforcing MSP especially for the milk being handled by the unorganised sector which includes millions of milk vendors”.

India’s milk production has been growing at nearly twice the rate of growth in world’s milk production and the country has become the world’s largest milk producer.

The country’s milk production is expected to cross 127 million tonnes in 2011-12 fiscal and it is estimated that the country would require 180 million tonnes of milk by 2020-21.

In order to boost milk output,the department said there is a need to strengthen dairy sector through activities like production of high genetic merit bulls,strengthening existing semen stations/starting new stations to produce high quality disease free semen doses,village based milk procurement system and demonstration of fodder development among others.

“These activities are being envisaged for funding under the National Dairy Plan- phase I which is in the process of approval,” the government reply said.