T’PURAM /PALAKKAD/KOZHIKODE: Dairy farmers and Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) are now staring at an uncertain future after the state government’s efforts to covert around two lakh litres of surplus milk into milk powder at plants across the border was stonewalled by Tamil Nadu in the wake of Covid-19. Kerala, which used to buy around two lakh litres of milk from neighbouring states to meet the state’s demand, will have to either curtail its daily procurement of milk from farmers or explore new avenues including distributing the milk through community kitchens. Milma chairman P A Balan told TNIE that the surplus milk was being converted into milk power at the milk plants belonging to Aavin at Krishnagiri and Erode.
“Now they have asked us to stop sending the milk trucks to Tamil Nadu in the wake of Covid-19. Either Milma has to reduce the daily procurement from farmers or the government should allow the surplus milk to be distributed through the 1,200-odd community kitchens,” he said. Malabar is the worst hit region in the state. “Currently, there are three loads of milk from the Malabar Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union and three loads of milk from the Ernakulam RCMPU in Tamil Nadu that have been despatched by Milma for conversion into powder.
However, they have intimated that they could not entertain any more vehicles with milk from Kerala,” Balan said. The Malabar union procures around six lakh litres of milk daily and the consumption is only three lakh litres. The Ernakulam union procures around three lakh litres per day and the demand is only for around 2.25 lakh litres. Thus, Milma is saddled with around 3.75 lakh litres of excess milk on a daily basis from two of the three regional unions.
Only the Thiruvananthapuram regional union is facing a deficit. The union procures around 3.2 lakh litres and the demand is around four lakh litres. Balan said that the dairy farmers who supply milk to the societies under Milma have to be paid on every eleventh day of procurement. Therefore, Milma will certainly be pushed into a cash crunch. The chairman said he has held talks with the state government on whether the milk could be used in the community kitchens set up across the state.
Milma has only one milk powder making factory, at Punnapra in Alappuzha, which was set up 15 years ago. However, Kerala had been facing a shortage of milk and the unit was finally closed down owing to continuous disuse. With the lockdown, consumption of milk has dropped by over two lakh litres from the average 10.95 lakh litres. However, Milma’s plans to convert the excess milk into powder form has been thwarted by Tamil Nadu.