Kerala to get milk from Maharashtra to meet shortages

PALAKKAD - Kerala will get 20,000 tonnes of milk and 600 tonnes of milk powder from Maharashtra everyday to tide over the shortage of dairy products in the state, an official said Thursday.

Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (MILMA) chairman P.T. Gopala Kurup told reporters: “We have decided to get 600 tonnes of milk powder and 20,000 litres of milk from Maharashtra every day with immediate effect. Kerala still faces a shortage of 10 percent because we are not getting regular supplies from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.”

For the past one week, the state is running short of 11 lakh litres of milk per day. The daily production in the state is 67 lakh liters per day.

“We have also asked union Minister of State for Agriculture K.V. Thomas to see that steps are taken for import of milk powder without duty. From our side, we have asked our regional divisions to see that steps are taken to improve the daily production of milk,” added Kurup.

There are 7.77 lakh dairy farmers who have organised 2,546 cooperative societies and another 836 other groups.

In all, 22 diaries function in the state. Of these, 12 are in the cooperative sectors and the rest in the private sector.

The Kerala animal husbandry department has begun an ambitious plan to make the state self-sufficient in milk production by setting up four hi-tech diary farms at a cost of Rs.20 crore.

The first of these farms is expected to open in June.

Among the south Indian states, Kerala with 172 grams per day per head has the lowest per capita availability of milk, while Andhra Pradesh ranks first with 269 gm/day and Punjab leads the national average with 961 gm/day.

—Indo Asian News Service