The summer of 2021 has been particularly cruel to dairy farmers. There is ample production but dismal procurement, thus leading to an alarming drop in sales. 

State Milk Producers and Processing Professionals’ Welfare Association Secretary Prakash Kutwal told SabrangIndia, “Milk producers were comparatively better off in 2020 considering the long summer and heat. Now, in 2021, Maharashtra’s milk sales have reduced by 40 percent.” 

Kutwal recounted how milk sales dipped yet again during the second wave of Covid-19, despite great sales observed in March, 2021. The unofficial lockdown caused by the surging Covid-deaths quashed farmers’ hopes of reviving the dairy sector this summer.

With rains coming in early, and eateries shutting down, the demand for cold products like ice-cream was much lesser than last year resulting in lesser sales for milk. Hostels and tea shops were also closed down in the city. Accordingly, procurement decreased by 10 percent. Kutwal said that due to the sudden impact on the food sector, milk producers got Rs. 22 per litre when they should have received at least Rs. 25 per litre.

Recently, two farmers unions: Milk Producers Farmers Struggle Committee and All India Kisan Sabha, called for a state-wide agitation on June 17,2021. In their joint statement they condemned private milk companies and co-operative milk unions for reducing the purchase price of milk by Rs. 10 to Rs. 18 per litre. This is in sharp contrast to pre-lockdown prices of Rs. 30-38 per litre.

“Private milk companies and co-operative milk unions have collectively pushed down rates and made huge profits. The state collects 13 million litres of milk every day. Of this, 40 lakh litres are used for making milk powder. The remaining 90 lakh litres of milk is distributed for domestic use by pouch packing,” said the statement.

Leaders emphasised that domestic consumption has remained stable through it all. Therefore, there is no need to consider 30 to 40 percent milk as excess; an alleged rumour promoted by milk companies to reduce milk prices.

A similar situation persists in neighbouring Gujarat. Sumul Dairy Director and farmer leader Jayesh Delad told SabrangIndia that milk sales decreased from Rs. 11 lakh in January, 2021 to Rs. 9 lakh during the second wave. In 2020 sales had fallen as far as Rs. 8 lakh following Rs. 11 lakh sales in May, 2019. On a positive note, he mentioned that sales were slowly recovering to Rs. 10 lakh in June. However, the possibility of a third wave still leaves dairy farmers with an uncertain future. State-wide, 1,50,000 tonne milk powder remains unused.

Even in case of small-scale farmers, companies like Amul do not change their prices while dealing with non-cooperative farmers, he said. At the same time, production costs keep increasing due to sky-high prices of diesel and petrol.

“In last few days, fuel prices have increased while milk prices haven’t increased in two years. So we have to increase prices,” said Delad.

Covid-19 lockdown caused a drop in the market demand due to closure of the outlets selling livestock products. A large number of private dairies were impacted and they stopped milk procurement from the farmers. This resulted in the farmers diverting their milk to the cooperatives.

As a result, milk procurement in the cooperative sector increased because, as per their mandate, they could not reject milk supplied by the farmers. The cooperatives are faced with liquidity problems due to higher conversion into milk powder and white butter caused by higher milk procurement.

Milk producers’ demands to state governments

When asked about preventive measures for measures in light of a third wave of coronavirus, Delad demanded subsidies from the government for the export sale of milk powder. In October 2020, the Gujarat government gave a Rs. 150 crore subsidy for powder. Delad suggests increasing this subsidy to Rs. 180 crore. Yet, no such schemes have been declared for the powder or butter lying unused.

According to Kutwal, milk companies like Gokul and Warna have made similar demands to the government and also gave money to dairy farmers albeit with no receipt. Maharashtra’s Milk Producers Farmers Struggle Committee and AIKS demanded a purchase and sale audit of milk of all private milk companies and co-operative milk unions during lockdown period by the state government.

It accused private workers of looting the milk producers and as such asked that the government obtain objective statistics on how much milk companies actually bought, sold and at what rate.

“Laws should be enacted for private and co-operative milk companies. An 80-20 revenue sharing policy should be implemented in the milk sector, strict measures should be taken to curb adulteration in milk, and a brand policy should be implemented,” they said in a press note.

Centre’s contribution in helping milk producers?

As per the Economic Survey 2020-21, milk and products was the only item in terms of protein-rich food inflation (not including vegetables) that declined continuously from 9.4 percent in April 2020 to 4.0 percent in December 2020.

Accordingly, the central government boasted of several measures to increase the productivity of livestock and, by extension, milk production such as the ongoing scheme State Dairy Cooperative & Farmers Producers Organization (SDCFPO), inclusion of livestock in Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme and a stimulus package of Rs. 15,000 crores under the Prime Minister’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat for animal husbandry infrastructure.

However, when asked about the various initiatives announced by the government since 2019, the Maharashtra leader Kutwal said there is no government presence on the field. In fact, he said some money from past schemes was still pending. Similar responses came from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh as well.

As for the KCC scheme, of the 1.5 crore or so dairy farmers associated with 230 milk unions and milk producing companies during June 1 to December 31, 2020, 47.81 lakh applications were collected. Out of those, 36.18 lakh applications were forwarded to banks by October 3, 2020.

Persisting despite troubles

West Bengal’s Kangsabati cooperative milk producers’ union has begun selling its produce to Covid-19 hospitals and stay-at-home patients in an effort to keep sales afloat. However, as the epidemic continues in waves, experts call for effective moves to improve the milk sector.

The situation persists even in regions of Uttar Pradesh, the leading state in terms of milk production. Speaking to SabrangIndia, Chandra village resident Dilpreet from Amroha district said farmers have been suffering since last year under the dual burden of the pandemic and the three farm laws forcibly passed by the central government.

“On top of that, when products are stopped because of the Covid-19 virus, we face a lot of problems. Farm loans hit us with double or even triple interest. Meanwhile, last year prices were around Rs. 30 per bag of milk. In January 2021, this increased to Rs. 40 thanks to farmers body Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s intervention,” he said.

Despite this increase in prices, Dilpreet only noticed a significant increase in village deaths rather than profits. When asked about government schemes, he says he too has seen no impact on the ground-level. A few years ago, the ruling party provided cows. However, following elections, dairy farmers lost the party’s attention and the cows too died.

“Every dairy farmer has a side business because they cannot keep their animal alive and household running by simply selling milk,” he said, emphasising the need for the government to not only procure grains but also find a solution for dairy farmers, whose future is marred by looming uncertainty.

Related:

No call for boycott of milk sales or higher sales price: SKM
Karnataka dairy farmers in distress as Bamul officials refuse to collect milk
Agricultural Bills passed sans votes! Nation-wide, farmers rise in anger, Oppn United

The post India’s dairy farmers face another harsh summer – but not because of the heat appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Spurred by rising incomes, a growing population and changing food preferences, the demand for milk and milk products will grow to at least 210 million tonnes by 2021–22, a rise of 36% over five years, according to government estimates. To meet this demand, production must grow by 5.5% per annum, according to the State of India’s Livelihood (SOIL) report. In 2014-15 and 2015-16, milk production grew at 6.2% and 6.3%, respectively.

To boost milk yield, India would need to generate 1,764 million tonnes of fodder by 2020, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of government data. But existing sources can only manage about 900 million tonnes of fodder–a shortage of 49%.
 
Demand for private consumption has risen from 5% per annum in the period 1998-2005 to 8.5% per annum between 2005 and 2012, according to an Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, report.
 
This demand and supply gap has pushed up milk prices by an average of 16% per annum, according to the according to the 2015 SOIL report.

 
States with top milk yields have more pastures
 
In the decade to 2015, milk production went up 59% from 92 million tonnes to 146 million tonnes in 2015. But fodder shortages may knock India off its position as the world’s top milk producer (it contributes nearly 17% of global production).
 
The milk productivity of India’s livestock is less than half (48%) of the global average: 987 kg per lactation compared to the global average of 2,038 kg per lactation.
 
The availability and quality of fodder has a direct bearing on the quantity and quality of milk productivity, the data show. All the three states that topped milk productivity in terms of gram per day–Rajasthan (704), Haryana (877) and Punjab (1,032)–had earmarked more than 10% of their cultivable land for pastures, according to the 2015 SOIL report. The national average is 337.
 
Currently, all three types of fodder are in short supply–green (63%), dry (24%) and concentrates (76%). Only 4% of total cultivable land in India is used for fodder production, a proportion that has remained stagnant for the last four decades.
 

 
Considering the demand for milk, land under fodder production needs to be doubled, according to this December 2016 report of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture.
 
Shortages are forcing states to now source fodder from elsewhere. “The quality of fodder is a concern. We are now looking to source fodder from Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh),” said Sudhir Mishra, who runs a dairy farm in Ranchi (Jharkhand).
 
But major portions of grazing lands have either been degraded or encroached upon, according to the Parliamentary Committee report.
 
However, the availability of crop residues, the largest single source of fodder, has been impacted by increasing pressure on land and the replacement of traditional cereal crops, especially coarse ones. Crop residue includes coarse and fine straws, leguminous and pulses straws.
 
Given the importance of food and cash crops, it is very unlikely that the area under fodder cultivation will increase substantially, the parliamentary committee report said.
 
“If India fails to achieve substantial production growth, the country would need to resort to significant imports from the world market which has the potential to cause prices to spurt since India is a large consumer,” said 2015 SOIL report

 
To cut costs, easy access to fodder is important for small farmers
 
Feed cost constitutes about 60-70% of operating expenses on dairy farms. Nearly 70% of India’s milk production comes from small and marginal farmers, who depend on homegrown fodder. Unlike big operators like Mishra, they cannot afford to buy fodder from other states.
 
Take the case of Dundappa Patil, a 10th-class pass from Belagavi in North Karnataka, who took a loan of Rs 35,000 for dairy farming eight years ago.
 
The process of applying and getting a loan for the enterprise was simple and quick because Patil was covered by a scheme for unemployed youth in Karnataka. He went through a crash course in dairy farming in Belagavi and in less than a month, set up business with four buffalo.
 
Patil’s target was to sell 20 litres of milk every day to a local co-operative society. But the yield per buffalo on Patil’s farm was less than 2 litres a day; his buffalo produced less than half the milk he hoped they would.
 
“I realised that just buying a good buffalo was not enough, quality and quantity of fodder too had to be good,” he said. “You have to be ready to spend a lot of time and money on sourcing fodder.”
 
Patil said he and other villagers were using a common pasture on a hill 5 km from the village. “But that is seasonal and not enough for the all the village cattle,” he said.
 
So, he tried buying the fodder, but then the business did not look viable.
 
The contribution of livestock to the incomes of landless and small farmers ranges between 20-50%, and the poorer the family, the greater the potential of dairy farming’s contribution to livelihood, according to the SOIL report.
 
Unlike agriculture, which tends to be seasonal, dairy farming provides returns through the year. It can minimise the risks agricultural households face when they run short of cash.
 
In Belgavi, that scenario did not work for Patil because he could not overcome the fodder shortage–an issue India must address if it is to be self-sufficient in milk and dairy farming is to succeed.
 
Eventually, after a year, Patil sold the buffalo and repaid half the loan. The bank waived the rest after failing to recover it. Today, he is a construction worker in Belagavi city.
 
(Patil is the founder of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)

This article was first published on IndiaSpend
 

The post With Pastures Shrinking, India May Have To Import Milk By 2021 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

They are not in a position to buy essential commodities for daily requirements from the market as they have stopped getting cash from their respective village-level milk cooperative societies.

Sangramsinh Rathwa, a director on the Board of Baroda Milk Dairy (Baroda Dairy Milk Producers Cooperative Society) told PTI that he has asked the dairy’s chairman and managing director to take up the issue with the Centre and RBI so that the tribals can get their payment immediately.

Baroda Milk Dairy daily collects 2.5 lakh litres of milk from 450 village level milk producers cooperative societies in Chhotaudepur district which have total membership of 45,000 tribal milk producers and farmers, he said.

The dairy has already deposited Rs 14 crores into the accounts of these cooperative societies in three branches of the Baroda District Central Cooperative Bank in Chhotaudepur for making payment to their members, belonging to the poor tribals communities, he said.

However, the tribals who do not have their savings account in these bank branches are now not in a position to withdraw the amount, Rathwa said.

Ranjitsinh Rathwa, another director of Baroda Milk Dairy, said the dairy pays these milk cooperative societies of Chhotaudepur on the 7th, 14th and 21st of every month.

Senior Congress leader Mohansinh Rathwa said, “I have sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ask RBI to direct Baroda District Central Cooperative Bank to ensure speedy payment to these poor tribals at the earliest as the situation has become grim.”

Naranbhai Rathwa, the former Union Minister of State for Railways in the earlier UPA government, who represented the tribal reserved seat of Chhotaudepur in Lok Sabha for four terms, also expressed concern over the issue.
He said some of tribals under the below poverty line category do not have money to buy grains, groceries or seeds and fertilisers as no one is accepting the old currency notes.

(With inputs from PTI)

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

The post Demonetisation: Tribal milk producers in Gujarat hit hard appeared first on SabrangIndia.