The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Friday said that there is no proposal to fix minimum support price (MSP) for milk in the country as it is a highly perishable product.
In a reply to the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said this Department does not regulate the prices of milk in the country. “Prices are decided by the cooperative and private dairies based on cost of production,” Balyan said.
Since milk is a highly perishable production, there is no “proposal to fix MSP for milk in the country,” he said.
The milk production in the country has been rising every year. The output stood at Rs 176.35 million tonnes during 2017-18 fiscal, the Minister added.
With regard to camel milk, the Minister, in a separate reply, said the Union government has not received a proposal from the State Governments and state dairy cooperatives for setting up of a dairy for camel’s milk.
However, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) — which owns Amul brand — has received Rs 2.65 crore during 2014-15 to 2017-18 for purchase of machinery and equipments for camel milk collection, chilling and processing under the central scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, he said.
In another reply, the Minister said that no survey has been conducted by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on purchase of dairy products from farmers as farmers are exempt from the provisions of FSS Act, 2006.