Omfed milk price to go up by Rs 2

Milk will be costlier by Rs 2 per litre from February 4. State-owned Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (Omfed) on Thursday announced to increase the rate – second such hike in five months.

Consumers have to shell out Rs 28 per litre of toned milk compared to Rs 26 per litre at present while they have to pay Rs 26 per litre of double toned milk compared to Rs 24 now. Before this, Omfed had raised prices of milk by Rs 2 in October, 2012.

Sources in Omfed said they had hiked the price to benefit milk farmers in the state. “The decision has been taken to benefit milk farmers, who have been demanding a better procurement price for milk. With the revised rates, a farmer will get a price of Rs 20.50 for one litre of milk instead of Rs 18.50 depending upon the quality of milk,” said public relations officer of Omfed Subash Tripathy. The retailers are being paid 90 paise for selling one litre of milk whereas another five paise is contributed for their insurance cover.

City residents, however, rued the hike. “We are already struggling with the soaring vegetable prices. Costlier milk will add to our woes,” said Madhumita Kar, a housewife.

Opposition political parties refrained from making any direct comment on the increase. “There has to be a balance between consumers’ and farmers’ interest. However, the government lacks in its commitment to ensure prosperity of the dairy sector to the advantage of both farmers and consumers,” said opposition leader Bhupinder Singh.

Samajwadi Party state unit president Rabi Behera suggested the government can increase the support price of milk for dairy farmers without increasing the price for consumers. “Omfed extracts butter from milk and markets it separately, earning around Rs 30 per litre of milk. So, even by supplying processed milk at a lesser price to consumers it can increase the support price for farmers,” he said.