Milk demand stagnates in Tamil Nadu, livestock owners in crisis

Tamil Nadu: On a conservative estimate, demand for milk has dropped by 1.5 crore litres in Tamil Nadu, a state where the daily demand for milk used to touch nearly 2.25 crore litres.

The lockdown has impacted the entire supply, procurement and distribution chain in the State where the government-run Aavin procures 30 lakh litres on a daily basis while private dairies used to lift 1.25 crore litres from the suppliers. From Rs 30 offered per litre of milk earlier, the prices have dropped by half to Rs 15, say, suppliers.

As hotels and restaurants are not functioning normally, marriage invitees restricted to 50 and a general cost-cutting approach resorted to by the public, milk suppliers are facing problems maintaining their livestock and keeping them fit for dairy product requirements.

'If this condition continues longer, the farmers may resort to desperate sales of their livestock, unable to feed them. Moreover, the payments made to the suppliers are pending from June-end which has also added to the crisis. The private diaries are ill-equipped to convert milk into other products like milk powder as they don't have upgraded facilities' revealed a farmer as quoted in a Dinamani report.