Amul Dairy raises milk price paid to farmers

Vadodara/ Anand: In an unconventional move, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd (KDCMPUL), popularly known as Amul Dairy, has decided to raise milk prices paid to farmers by Rs 10 per kilo fat.

The dairy union has decided to increase milk prices from Rs 580 per kilo fat to Rs 590 per kilo fat with effect from November 11. The move is unusual as during winters which are considered to be a lush season in the dairy industry, dairy unions usually decrease prices paid to its members.

“We have decided to increase the per kilo fat price paid to our member farmers as we are growing good and secondly prices of cattle feed have increased due to increase in raw material prices,” said Dr K Rathnam, Amul Dairy’s managing director. “Also, since the monsoon wasn’t good this year, we are anticipating problems related to fodder and water that farmers are expected to face,” he said. Earlier, in June too, the co-operative had increased procurement price paid to farmers from Rs 570 to Rs 580 per kilo fat.

The milk union has 6.35 lakh farmers as members associated with nearly 1,240 village level milk societies in Anand and Kheda districts. The cattle feed price which was earlier Rs 16,885 per metric tonne has recently increased to Rs 17,300 per metric tonne. The dairy is currently witnessing ten percent growth in milk procurement. While its procurement from Gujarat stands at around 19.50 lakh litres per day, from states outside Gujarat including Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal it procures nearly 5.5 lakh litres per day.

During the last financial year, it had registered an annual turnover of Rs 4,825 crore while it has set a target of achieving Rs 5,800 crore turnover in the current financial year.

Source: DAIRY NEWS OF INDIA