Tamil Nadu: Dairy farmers on Monday emptied milk on road in Madurai's Usilampatti while protesting against the Tamil Nadu government. The action of dairy farmers comes a day after when a section of dairy farmers performed the same on the streets of Salem and Erode district. The farmers staged a protest against the state government demanding an increase in milk procurement prices.
Dairy producers seeking higher procurement prices
Dairy producers on Sunday poured around 150 litres of milk on the streets here in protest against the existing procurement prices offered by the Tamil Nadu government and threatened to gherao the local Aavin office if their demands were not met. In an attempt to bring the government's attention to their demand seeking higher procurement prices, milk producers emptied several cans of milk on the streets in Alandurai on the outskirts of the city on Sunday.
This comes close on the heels of many dairy farmers emptying milk on the streets in Salem and Erode in the western region of the state. The producers belonging to Nadegounderpudur Agricultural Cooperative Bank along with the district farmers union raised slogans in support of their call seeking to provide Rs 50 per litre as procurement prices and also provide subsidy for cattle feed.
Milk producers were not getting the right price
With unremunerative prices for agricultural produce, farmers including milk producers were not getting the right price and this is affecting the livelihood of families, Tamil Nadu Farmers Union local president Arumughasami said. If the government failed to increase the prices to Rs 50 per litre within one week, the producers will lay siege to the Aavin office in nearby Pachapalayam, he said.
What problems do dairy producers face?
It has become difficult to rear cattle as Rs 250 has to be spent per cow, resulting in a loss to the farmers, even state-run cooperative Aavin has stopped paying dividends and giving incentives to suppliers even as neighbouring states' governments were disbursing Rs 48 per litre.
(with inputs from PTI)
