Dairy sector supply glut matter of great concern : NDDB chief

The ongoing supply glut in India's dairy sector is a matter of "great concern" and the government should look at more initiatives to tide over the crisis, a top official of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) said today.

"The dairy sector is still facing a crisis. It is a matter of great concern to all of us because a few states had surplus stock of milk, which they converted into milk powder (skimmed milk powder).

"Now, they are saddled with huge quantity of the powder and are unable to get a good price for it," NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath told PTI here.

Rath said capital will also be blocked for maintaining the excess stock of the milk powder, which will be a burden on the central government.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of an automatic milk collection system software developed by NDDB for dairy cooperative societies affiliated to the Sundarban Cooperative Milk and Livestock Producers' Union.

The states bearing the maximum impact of the supply glut were Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

In Maharashtra and Punjab milk farmers had recently emptied tankers on the streets as part of protests to press for a hike in procurement prices.

"The situation in Maharashtra is stable now, as the government has announced a few schemes for milk and powder subsidies," Rath said.

He said that the NDDB has made a host of suggestions to the Centre to address the current crisis and assure milk farmers.

Some of the the recommendations made to the government include raising the Merchandise Exports from India (MEIS) Scheme incentive from 10 per cent to 20 per cent and providing low-cost working capital to the cooperatives, he said.

"There should also be a nation-wide programme to distribute the excess milk to schools as 36 per cent of our children are malnourished. We have also recommended donating some of the milk powder to the SAARC countries which have deficient milk supply," Rath said.