Cost of milk production higher than market price – DKMF President Raviraj Hegde

Cost of milk production higher than market price – DKMF President Raviraj Hegde

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi,  Oct 19, 2011 : Raviraj Hegde, the president of the DK Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation (DKMF), said that although the cost of producing milk has shot up, its price as set by the KMF is much lower than the price in Kerala. He was delivering the inaugural address after inaugurating KMF’s Nandini Milk Parlour in the taluk office premises.

Further speaking about the cost of milk production, he said that these rising costs are leading to a decline in the number of dairy farmers in Karnataka, owing to which the DKMF now gets milk from Hassan and Mysore.

Stating that the government is already providing an incentive of Rs. 2 per litre for the farmers, he said that the quality of milk produced by DKMF is much better than the quality in other states. He also said that more than one lakh farmers from 640 co-operative unions in DK and Udupi, along with thousands of agents are benefited by the federation.

He further said that the high quality of milk provided by DKMF has reduced people’s dependency on milk powder, adding that the demand for milk powder is almost zero in coastal districts.

He also said that the DKMF is now aiming to create awareness among young people after targeting farmers and milk producers. He said that film shows will be organized in schools to convey the message that dairy farming can become very lucrative in future.

DKMF MD Ravi Kumar Kakade said that paneer lovers can soon expect to find diced paneer in the market, adding that the Mangalore diary plant is already producing 4,000kg paneer per month. There are also plans to release soft drinks titled Energy Rush into the market after 3 more months.

Kakade also said that the federation will release 1-litre packets of curds and 200-gm packets of khova into the market to meet the demands of hotels, restaurants, and caterers.

He also said that the federation is spending 0.5 percent of its revenue on advertising and publicity because it believes in mouth-to-mouth canvassing. The DKMF has a production unit in Mangalore, which releases 2.5lakh litres of milk per day into the market and processes around 60,000 litres of milk per day.