More than 50 milk producers spilled about 200 litres of milk on the road on the Four-Road area in Dharmapuri town on Wednesday to protest certain management decisions of state-run milk co-operative Aavin.
The dairy farmers claimed that Aavin management had suddenly reduced the quantity of milk it was procuring from them. “We are not able to sell our milk to anyone as we have a large quantity of unsold stock,” said S Kumarasamy, a milk producer.
The milk cooperative in Dharmapuri usually procures 1.3 lakh litres of milk from producers across the district. Dairy farmers are mostly concentrated in Morappur, Chinnagoundampatty and Bombatty villages in the district.
When contacted by TOI, Dr K Venkatachalam, general manager of Aavin, Dharmapuri, said that the management hasn’t reduced its procurement level. “We are still procuring 1.3 lakh litres every day,” he said.
He said that private milk companies had reduced the procurement price to Rs 22 per litre, while Aavin was paying farmers Rs 32 per litre. “So the milk producers who were supplying to private companies left them and suddenly turned to Aavin,” he explained.
He said the Dharmapuri district Aavin could preserve 1.23 lakh litres of milk a day.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
