Milk cooperative asks farmers to focus on green grass cultivation

Farmers engaged in dairy farming should focus on green grass cultivation, according to an office-bearer of milk cooperative union.

Speaking at the 59th cooperative week celebration in Mangalore on Friday, Raviraj Hegde, President of the Dakshina Kannada Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Ltd, said that dairying in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts is heavily dependent on fodder. Drought in several parts of the state has led to the increase in the prices of fodder.

Following this, the cost of milk production is considerably high in these two districts as the demand for fodder is two times more than the rest of the state. In such a situation, farmers should focus on green grass cultivation, he said.

The Dakshina Kannada Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Ltd offers Rs 24 a litre to farmers for the milk procured from them. The procurement price of milk in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts is almost 85 per cent of the selling price. This is one of the best prices offered to the farmers in the State, he said.

The total production of the milk in these two districts is 2.35 lakh litres a day. However, the cooperative sells more than 3 lkah litres a day of milk, he said.

B.V. Satyanarayana, Executive Director of the milk union, said that the cooperative has set a turnover target of Rs 435 crore during the current financial year. It did a turnover of Rs 367 crore in the last fiscal.

The cooperative has been celebrating the cooperative week with the release of a new value-added product for the past 12 years.

This year the cooperative launched ‘Mango Lassi’ to mark the cooperative week celebrations, he said.

M.N. Rajendra Kumar, President of South Canara District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd, said that it is essential for the cooperatives to look at new things and implement them in their functioning. This will help them remain competitive in the market, he added.

> vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

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