Is Odisha’s milk boom going the potato doom wayIJ Almost so, if one go by the evolving milk dynamics during the last two and a half decades in the State.
When the milk sale by cooperatives during the decade 1990-91 to 2000-01 had clocked a mere 51 per cent growth to touch 98,000 litre per day, it grew impressively all the while during the decade 2000-01 to 2012-13 by a humungous over 353 per cent to touch a whopping 4.44lakh litre per day. And in 2015-16, it has even crossed the 5-lakh litre mark per day.
Similarly, the milk production in the State during the decade 1990-91 to 200-01 was up by over 170 per cent to 8.8 lakh tonne and the growth in production during the decade 2000-01 to 2012-13 was around 98 per cent to touch 17.24lakh tonne. And in the year 2014-15, the production even crossed the 19-lakh tonne barrier.
But the milk procurement from the villages during the decades didn’t display the same logic. While in the decade 1990-91 to 2000-01 the rural procurement of milk was up 129 per cent to touch 94,000 kg/day, the growth, though, picked up during the decade 2000-01 to 2012-13 with the procurement growing by around 305 per cent to touch 3.81lakh kg/day.
The fact, however, is the total rural milk procurement works out to be a mere 8 per cent of the total milk production per day when production-wise rural areas contribute over about 80 per cent of the total milk production. And this is the reason why the milk farmers in the rural areas resort to distress sale when the milk produced goes un-procured.
Now, sample the cost of milk production in Odisha. As local indigenous cows form the majority of the cattle farming in the State, a farmer bears a cost of around Rs33 per animal per day to produce a litre of milk. If the value of byproducts like dung is imputed from then the net cost per animal per day works out to be around Rs29 approximately. When the sale price of around Rs27/litre to milk federations is taken into account, the loss works out to be around Rs1.8/litre, explained a senior OUAT official. However, if the rural milk produced was not procured by milk federations, the price then crashed to around Rs 20/litre as farmers then were compelled to sell milk in their vicinity alone because it is a perishable commodity.
And the reason behind less procurement is due to lack of bulk cooler facility in even many milk shed areas, data shows. Financially and professionally, strong milk unions in Odisha, like in Gujarat, could help get more private investment in the dairy sector, which would then suffice the Omfed efforts in pegging up the milk procurement, the official observed.