Starting Wednesday, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) will sell an additional 50 ml of milk in half and one-litre packets of Nandini and charge ₹2 extra for the same.
While the Opposition condemned the price increase, which follows the petrol and diesel price hike, KMF said it was being done to help farmers as milk procurement had reached record levels this season, and there was “no real hike”; only additional milk was being charged extra. Now, a one-litre packet containing an additional 50 ml of the popular Nandini toned milk will cost ₹44 per litre, and a half-litre packet containing an additional 50 ml will cost ₹24. Earlier, the cost of one litre of Nandini toned milk was ₹42, while a half-litre packet was sold at ₹22.
Average procurement by the Karnataka Milk Federation is up by about 15% when compared with the corresponding period last year
Good monsoon and increased procurement price being passed on to dairy farmers have increased the average procurement of milk by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) by about 15% when compared with the corresponding period last year.
While the average procurement of milk in Karnataka was around 90 lakh litres daily last year, it has increased to 99 lakh litres this year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pointed out in a statement on Tuesday in which he justified the additional 50 ml milk being supplied in Nandini packets at an additional cost of ₹2 saying that it was to protect the interests of the dairy farmers. The new prices were announced by the KMF on Tuesday.
Farmers’ interests
“At no point, the village-level dairy societies should refuse to procure the milk brought by the farmer and increased quantity in milk packets is to protect the farmers’ interests. There has been no increase in the price of milk. But the additional cost is for the additional quantity of milk,” the Chief Minister clarified.
He said the KMF was already converting 30 lakh litres of milk into skimmed milk powder and producing about 250 tonnes daily. “The production is commensurate with the demand,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Profitable
The Chief Minister said that when the Congress government came to power in May 2023, an average 72 lakh litres of milk was being procured. “After the retail milk price increased by ₹3 a litre and the amount was passed on to farmers, dairy farming became profitable to farmers. Along with that, availability of green fodder due to good rainfall has resulted in the KMF’s procurement reaching almost one crore litre a day,” he said. The KMF has decided to pass on the additional milk to the consumer without adding much burden.
