Date:15/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/15/stories/2007121552460300.htm

Kerala

Mixed response to milk price hike

Staff Correspondent

MYSORE: The Karnataka Milk Federation’s decision to hike the price of milk by Rs. 2 a litre has drawn a mixed response.

Expressing anger over the increase in the price of milk and curds by Rs. 2 and Rs. 4 a litre respectively, former MLA H.S. Shankarlinge Gowda threatened to launch a stir if the prices were not rolled back immediately.

In a press statement, Mr. Gowda said the increase in the price of milk and curds would put an additional burden on the poor and middle class. Children and patients will be the worst affected, he said.

If the price hike was to help the farmers who produce milk, Mr. Gowda said the Government should bear the increased cost in the form of a subsidy. The Government should not allow the hike to be passed on to the consumers, he said.

However, former Director of Mysore and Chamarajanagar District Milk Producers’ Federation Ambale Shivanandaswamy welcomed the hike, and said it would help milk-producing farmers, who were reeling under the impact of rising cost of living. In a press statement, Mr. Shivanandaswamy said the input costs for practising animal husbandry had risen substantially, forcing many farmers to abandon the occupation altogether.

Farmers’ plight

To make ends meet, the farmers had been forced to send the entire quantity of milk to the processing dairy without keeping anything for their families, thereby depriving their children of the nourishment, he added.

He also hoped the federation’s decision to hike the price of milk would help the farmers.