Maharashtra milk farmers begin strike to protest sharp fall in prices

Farmers in Maharashtra came on the streets, disrupting milk supply to major cities, including the state capital, in protest against a sharp fall in the prices they get. 

The stir, called by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), is to press for a minimum Rs 5 a litre of subsidy to milk farmers in the state and a minimum sale price of cow milk at Rs 30 a litre. 

Around 70 per cent of the 165 million tonnes of milk produced across India in a year is consumed directly in liquid form. The remaining 30 per cent is processed into products such as cheese, butter, skimmed milk powder, etc.

“Apart from returning hundreds of milk vans to corporate-owned chilling centres, protesting farmers vandalised nearly 60 vehicles all across the state. They have stopped supply to corporate-owned chilling centres and bulk dealers,” said Yogesh Pande, spokesperson, SSS.

He claims dairy farmers are forced to sell milk in Maharashtra at Rs 16-17 a litre, while branded bottled water fetches Rs 20 a litre. Some months earlier, dairy companies were offering Rs 26-27 a litre.

Governments in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been paying a subsidy of up to Rs 5 a litre to milk farmers but the government of Maharashtra has so far not accepted this demand, Early this year, around 20,000 milk farmers walked to Mumbai from Pune to press for this. A subsidy of Rs 5 a litre for cow milk is estimated to cost the government Rs 4 billion annually.

“Today being the first day of the protest, the impact was minimal. Packaged cow milk sold to consumers on Monday was supplied to stockists and retailers the previous day. The impact of this protest would be severe from Tuesday,” said Pande.

SSS, led by Lok Sabha member Raju Shetti, claims to have support across the board from bodies involved in the milk business.