Union Minister Urges Odisha CM To Resume Milk Procurement From Dairy Farmers

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister and Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi on Wednesday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allow OMFED to resume milk procurement from local dairy farmers, who are facing a great deal of hardship due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

“The ongoing lockdown measures have cascading effect on all sectors, including the dairy farmers of the state. Ever since the lockdown, the OMFED has substantially reduced its milk procurement from the local dairy farmers due to severe demand squeeze,” he said in a letter.

Farmers still have to purchase fodder for their livestock and also spend on their upkeep and maintenance, despite not getting the market price for their milk, he said.

The Union Minister said that they are forced to throw their milk in the open without finding any buyer.

He requested the CM to address the concerns of the dairy farmers and resume milk procurement from them so as to augment its processing capacity to produce more durable milk products like ghee and cheese having greater shelf-life or creating a monetary compensation system to help them sustain in their business in this difficult times.