Dang. The dairy farmers here are suffering because they cannot get the price according to their hard work and investment. Even though they have to work hard in the animal husbandry business, they have been killed because they do not get the price accordingly.
It has been seen that there is a problem in the value chain of milk as the farmers who produce milk do not get a fair price and the consumers have to pay relatively expensive prices. Farmers demand that transparent details of costs and profits from production to consumers should be made public. They say that if farmers are to be encouraged to produce, they should ensure a reasonable price of milk.
Both producers and consumers are affected when dairies and businessmen buy milk from farmers at low prices and sell it to consumers at high prices.
Gopal Khanal, who has been running Green Laxmi cow and buffalo farm in Ghorahi sub-metropolis-2 Rampur, produces more than 100 liters of milk daily. About 65 liters of the produced milk is sold to the dairy and the remaining milk is sold to consumers at home.
According to Khanal, when selling milk to a dairy, the price of buffalo milk is not more than Rs 75 per liter. The price of cow’s milk is Rs 65 per liter. However, the dairy businessmen sell the same milk to consumers for up to Rs 100 per liter. He said that although cow and buffalo milk have separate production costs, consumers have to pay almost the same price for both types of milk. “Farmers are not even involved in price determination,” he said.
He said that although the costs of milk production such as feed, bran, grass, medicine and animal treatment are increasing, the price received by the farmers has not increased accordingly. He said that as the cost of production increases, the income of the farmers will decrease. Although the cost of the farmers has increased, the expected increase in the price of milk has not occurred, but the dairy businessmen have increased the price of curd, paneer and ghee produced from milk. Business Committee Ghorahi has increased the price to be implemented from October 15th. He said that the price of the item has been increased, showing the reason for the increase in cost.
Currently, curd is priced at Rs 140 per liter, paneer at Rs 900 per kg and ghee at Rs 1,450 per kg. A farmer in Ghorahi says that milk is sold at Rs 70 to 75 per liter. He says that he gets the price up to Rs. 75 per liter as he himself delivers milk to the respective places on a motorcycle. However, due to the transportation costs, time and labor involved in bringing the milk to the market, the actual income is even lower, he said.
Farmers complain that their role in price determination is weak despite investment and labor. They say that although the cost of feed, medicine, labor, electricity, water and animal health services required for animal husbandry is increasing, the price of milk has not been adjusted according to the cost.
Farmers have demanded that the cost of production should be scientifically calculated while determining the price of milk, farmers’ representation should be ensured and the cost of transporting milk to the market should also be evaluated.