Dairy farmers protest drop in collection price at Visakha Dairy

Visakhapatnam: Serious trouble seems to be brewing in Visakha Dairy, one of the largest milk producers in the state as the management has reduced the procurement price of cow milk by Rs 3 per litre arbitrarily saying that the quality of the milk was not meeting the expected standards.

Why and how suddenly the board felt that the quality does not meet the standards has become an issue of major controversy. Assembly Speaker Ch Ayyanna Patrudu appealed to the Agriculture Minister to intervene and probe the issue and take necessary action to protect the interests of the farmers and save the dairy. Efforts to contact the minister failed as he was busy in the Deepam-2 launch programme and could not be reached.

This decision of the board will affect about 3 lakh farmers. The farmers who supply milk to the company spread across Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Manyam and East Godavari districts.

Along with milk, the company produces a host of dairy products that are in huge demand in the market. Despite stiff competition, the popularity of the Visakha Dairy continued to witness an upward trend for decades.

At a time when fodder rate and maintenance cost of the cattle has been hiked, farmers express disappointment over the drop in the cow milk prices. “We were expecting a hike, but this decision of the board to drop the price has come as a shock,” a worried Rama Rao, a Kasimkota-based farmer told Hans India. Ayyanna Patrudu further said that it was unfortunate that none of the directors were speaking about the decision. None of them had objected to the move and there was no discussion on the issue as per his information. He alleged that the directors attend the board meeting to collect their gift or sitting fees but do not raise any issue pertaining to the welfare of the farmers.

Demanding justice to the dairy farmers, CPM leader K Lokanatham, JSP corporator P Murthy Yadav and representatives of the various farmers associations demanded the board to reverse the decision. They demanded that Rs 50 per litre be paid to the farmers.

“But instead of increasing the cost, the management completely ignored our demands and deprived us of two bonus payments. Even in other dairies, minimum price is being paid to the farmers which is higher than what Visakha Dairy is paying,” lamented Karri Apparao, district president of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers’ Association.