Priyanka Gandhi Meets ‘Alia Bhatt’, cow and Kerala Farmers
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi visited a dairy farm in Kodenchery, Kerala, where she engaged with local dairy farmers about the economic and operational challenges they face. During her visit, she encountered a cow named “Alia Bhatt,” which she used to draw light attention, before turning attention to serious sector issues.
She pledged to write to the concerned ministry to raise awareness about their plight, citing escalating costs of veterinary medicines, insufficient insurance coverage, and limited access to quality cattle feed as key constraints. The visit comes amid growing concern over the sustainability of small-scale dairy farming in Kerala, where input inflation and weak institutional support are squeezing margins.
Industry & Policy Insights
The issues raised mirror systemic pressures in India’s broader dairy sector: feed cost inflation, insurance gaps, and veterinary input price hikes are common across many dairy belts. Without intervention, such pressures risk reducing farmer participation, leading to supply shocks or quality lapses in milk procurement.
Improving insurance schemes, subsidizing veterinary and feed inputs, and strengthening access to high-quality feed (through cooperatives, bulk procurement, or feed factories) could help stabilize farmer incomes. Political engagement such as this visit can catalyze policy focus, but sustainable outcomes require structural reforms in support systems, credit access, farmer training, and supply chain transparency.
Source : Dairynews7x7 Oct 10th 2025