As many as 600 milk societies of the 1,200 cooperative societies in six Malabar districts have already held public protests, marches and meetings over the past two weeks against the huge influx of milk procured at much lower prices from neighbouring states. Daily sales of Milma (the apex body of milk societies) in Malabar fell by 5% from 5.1 lakh litres at this time last year to 4.8 lakh litres now.
Milma officials said many customers are falling for the deceptive pricing by some firms that are importing milk from other states and selling 400g pouches for Rs 20 while Milma’s 500g pouch costs Rs 23. “Those who buy imported milk from other states are actually being cheated as actually they are paying higher prices as the quantity is 100g less than the one sold by Milma,” an official said.
Milma officials said such firms have huge margins as the procurement price in states like Tamil Nadu is Rs 24-26/litre while milk is procured from farmers by Milma at Rs 38-40/litre in Kerala.
“The influx of milk from other states has increased in recent months especially after the pandemic. While price of milk fell significantly in those states, the procurement price of milk remained unchanged in Kerala. Those bringing milk from other states have a price advantage,” said managing director of Malabar Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union (MRCMPU) KM Vijayakumaran. P Srinivasan, a dairy farmer from Ezhukulam near Nanmanda in Kozhikode, said the livelihoods of thousands of dairy farmers in the state are under threat. “During these tough times, it is the dairy sector alone which has managed to provide a reliable income to farmers as Milma, the apex body of dairy co-ops in the state, has been procuring the entire milk produced by farmers. But, the huge influx of low quality milk brought in from other states will impact the sales of locally-produced milk which will in turn affect the farmers as we are also getting bonus and other benefits like cattle feed subsidy,” he said.
