PALAKKAD: The price of milk will go up by Rs 6 per litre from December 1. The prices of milk-based products will also increase commensurately, said Milma chairman K S Mani.
Addressing mediapersons at the Kallepully dairy of Milma on Wednesday, Mani said that 83.75 per cent of the increase in prices will be given to the farmer. It means that out of the Rs 6 hike for one litre of milk, Rs 5.025 will be given to the farmer. In addition to it, 0.75 paise will be given to the welfare fund.
Of the remaining amount, 5.75 per cent will be given to the dealers, 5.75 per cent to societies and 3.5 per cent to co-operative unions. He said that the assistance given to the milch farmers has not been reduced till date.
The chairman said that, post 2019 , a hike in the price of milk is being made only now. In 2019, there was an increase of Rs 4 per litre of which Rs 3.35 was given to farmers.
He said that the prices of cattle feed has increased by 12 per cent since November 1. As the raw material prices has increased, the cattle feed factories could not operate without hiking the prices of their end products also. The cattle feed factories have suffered a loss of Rs 18 crore during the current financial year. Moreover, there has been a reduction in arrivals of milk from other states to Kerala.
Therefore, by giving an increased price to milch farmers, the intention was that more people should enter the field. The chairman said that there will be an increase in the prices of curd and other value-added products also. However, a decision on increasing the prices of these products will be taken only after December 1.
The chairman said that as per the report of the expert committee constituted by the dairy development department and Milma, it was found that the milch farmer was suffering a loss of Rs 8.57 while producing one litre of milk. The cost of production of one litre of milk was Rs 46.75. The committee had recommended that the milch farmers should be ensured a 5 per cent profit margin over the cost, he added.