Increase Price of Milk: ERCMPU to Milma Federation

KOCHI:
Milma’s Ernakulam Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (ERCMPU) will request to the apex Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation in the state to increase the price of milk in tune with the times amid steady rise in production cost and labour wages.

A meeting of the ERCMPU administrative committee took the decision, its Chairman Valsalan Pillai CN said today.

“It is for the Milma Federation to decide on rise in the prices of the milk. We will work to pressure the apex body to make moves on this front,” Pillai said.

Milk farmers in Kerala are not getting income in accordance with the production cost, prompting small and marginal diaries to quit the field, he said. “The state’s milk production is coming down each day. This has led to over-dependence of Kerala on neighbouring states in the sector,” he pointed out, also highlighting issues such as climate change and rising cases of diseases among the cattle. “We urgently need governmental intervention to avert an imminent crisis.”

According to Pillai, Milma should raise the prices of its milk packets by “at least 10 rupees” to retain the farmers in the sector. “Also, the government must work on schemes and projects that accord prominence to the dairy farmers,” he added.