New Delhi: Thousands of dairy farmers in Punjab massed at the state-run Verka milk processing plant in Mohali on Saturday, announcing that they will go on strike to press for their demands which includes an increase in milk procurement price, news agency IANS reported. The strike is likely to hit the supply of milk and dairy products by Milkfed, a state-run milk cooperative, to Chandigarh and several other parts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh on Sunday.
Speaking to IANS on Saturday, Daljit Singh Sadarpura, president, Progressive Dairy Farmers Association (PDFA), said dairy farming is the second largest source of livelihood in the state after agriculture.
“The state ranks number one in commercial dairy farming in the country. The number of dairy farmers in Punjab is more than the entire country. Every single dairy farmer here is grappling with a financial crisis. We didn’t raise the demand for an increase in milk procurement price over the last two years as we knew that people, including us, were going through a hard time because of the pandemic,” he was quoted as saying by IANS.
Claiming that milk prices haven’t been hiked for more than two years, Sadarpura said, “Wheat and fodder contributes roughly 75 per cent to the expenditure on milk production.”
He said expenses on cattle feed have doubled over the last two years, adding, “The major component of cattle feed is soybean, which was Rs 3,200 per quintal a year back and has since increased to Rs 10,000 per quintal.”
The IANS report further quoted him as saying that the association has apprised the AAP government of the financial distress of the dairy farmers, urging it to compensate them on similar lines as other states. “But the government has failed to pay heed to our demands,” he said.
The association’s press secretary Resham Singh Bhullar threatened to press on with their agitation till their demands are met.