Kerala dairy farmers want support price for milk

Kochi, Apr 13: Kerala Dairy Industries Association has urged the Kerala governemnt to fix a support price for milk to ensure a reasonable income for the dairy farmers.

Speaking to newspersons here last night, Association Secretary Anil Kumar said the government should fix a support price of atleast Rs 15 for one litre of milk.

"If the government fixed a support price, lot of farmers will come forward to dairy farming and this will result an increase of production of milk in the state," he added.

He said the industry was facing an impending crisis because of high production cost, dependence on other states for milk and lack of quality breed cows.

The production cost of the milk increased manyfold in the last two yars, however the price of the milk increased only by a minimal 75 paise in the same period, he said.

Mr Kumar criticised the government for not giving ample support to the dairy farmers, he also stressed the importance of research and development in the dairy industry.

UNI