BANGALORE: Milk consumers will have to shell out more on Nandini milk from Sunday. The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has hiked the prices of milk by Rs 3 per litre for all Nandini milk variants — toned milk, homogenised cow’s milk and double-toned milk. The cost for a litre of Nandini toned milk will be Rs 24 and the price of curd will also go up by Rs 4 per litre. Announcing this decision on Friday, KMF chairman G Somashekhara Reddy said: “We arrived at this decision after holding discussions with the CM and other experts. From January 8, there will be an increase of Rs 3 for toned milk.”
Reddy added that the decision was taken in the interest of the farmers. “There were demands to up the price by Rs 5. We wanted to keep in mind the welfare of farmers. With an increase in the cost of production, diesel and power, this move will benefit the farmers,” he said.
With this hike, farmers are likely to receive up to 80%. “The exact price will be determined by the respective milk unions. Till now, unions paid Rs 19 to farmers. With the hike, we expect the farmers to receive Rs 22,” said Reddy.
“Production in the state has already come down by 1.5 lakh. Our intended target was 50 lakh litres. I am hopeful that in 3-4 months, we will reach this target,” said Reddy. He added that prices of other milk products are likely to be hiked by 15%.
Officials at KMF have informed that the hike was inevitable, with the costs of cows soaring. “The price farmers have to pay for cows has gone up tremendously, it has gone up from Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000,” said A S Premnath, MD, KMF.