JEYPORE: Hundreds of dairy farmers of Jeypore sub-division on Sunday gheraoed OMFED plant here demanding proper procurement of milk.
Shouting slogans against the OMFED management for deliberately returning the milk citing low quality, they staged demonstration in front of the OMFED plant and demanded immediate procurement of their produce.
They also demanded hike in milk price from `25 to `30 per litre due to increase in cost of dairy farming and construction of a chilling plant.Later, the local officials of OMFED rushed to the spot and assured the agitating farmers to look into their demands.
Milk farmer leaders said the OMFED management has been procuring the dairy products at a cheaper rate from the farmers and exploiting the consumers by selling it in higher price to gain profit. The profits of the OMFED should be equally distributed among dairy farmers, they added and threatened that if the authorities failed to fulfill their demands, they would gear up the agitation.
Sources said about 11,000 dairy farmers of Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts supply milk to the OMFED plant here.