SAMBALPUR: Dairy farmers of the district on Thursday sought daily procurement of milk by the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (OMFED).
OMFED used to procure 85,000 litre milk from farmers across the district everyday. However, it reduced its milk collection frequency to once every two days during the lockdown.
Now, even after the lockdown has been eased to a great extent, the federation, citing a dip in demand, is still procuring milk from farmers on alternate days.
A farmer, Kushadhwaj Chowdhury said procurement of milk on alternate days was justified during the lockdown. However, continuation of the practice, even after restoration of normalcy, has affected the farmers.
A farmer spends around Rs 17-Rs 22 for producing a litre of milk. “If OMFED does not procure our produce, we will have to incur huge losses,” Chowdhury said.
A group of dairy farmers submitted a memorandum to the district administration in this regard on the day. In absence of Collector Subham Saxena, Sambalpur ADM Umakanta Raj received the memorandum. The ADM said apart from their demand for daily procurement of milk, the farmers have also sought financial assistance.
“I will discuss the issue with the Collector and if needed the matter will be taken up with the State Government,” he said.