Goa Dairy struggles and forced to stop FCM and Cow milk supply

The Curti-based Goa Dairy is yet to come out of the morass that it has been for the last your years.  In fact, the dairy is heading for more troubles as its milk sales  are dwindling and its cattle feed plant has been out of action for a week.

Milk sales of the dairy have gone down to 42,000 litres per day from 62,000 litres within a month. Moreover, the dairy’s cattle feed plant has been shut for a week due to the shortage of raw material, which has taken a toll on its market share.

Reliable sources maintained that ever since Registrar of Cooperative Society (RCS) announced the election for the dairy board, the new administrative committee has been reluctant in taking decisions in helming the dairy effectively, especially on procuring milk from the other states and also the raw material required for the cattle feed plant.

The RCS declared elections for the board in the last week of May 2022.  The election was held on June 19, 2022 and 12 board of directors were elected.

However, a move has not yet been made to hand over the reins of the dairy to the newly-elected directors.

A senior official at the dairy alleged that the committee has not been  moving files and has not been clearing the bills  for  the previously purchased raw materials.

Chairman of the administrative committee Dr. Agostinho Misquita could not be contacted  for a comment to clear the air.

There is huge demand for the dairy’s milk. But the dairy doesn’t have enough of it to supply on account of the reduction in procurement. Usually when the supply of milk from local farmers declines, the dairy fill up the gap with the milk procured from outside the state, the  dairy official explained.

It is pertinent to note that the dairy had been procuring around 20,000 litres of milk from other states.

The official observed that the dairy’s high fat milk supply was stopped for nearly 15 days for the first time in the history of the establishment:  last month the dairy did not have high fat milk procurement, which  is usually bought from other states.

The cattle feed plant of the dairy supplying on an average 35 tonne of feed per day to  farmers across the state has stopped due to shortage of raw materials.

Sources attributed this situation to the administrative committee not clearing past bills of many suppliers and not arranging  new raw material suppliers.

The dairy has been helmed by  government-appointed administrators or administrative committee for the last four years after the RCS disqualified the majority of the directors over alleged irregularities.

The dairy’s annual report has said the dairy earned a profit of around Rs 2.41 crore for the financial year 2020-21. But after deducting the loss of Rs 6.41 crore, overall loss for the dairy is reported to be around Rs 4 crore for the period.