Dark days for dairy farmers of Kendrapara
2 min read By Express News Service
KENDRAPARA: Dairy farmers of Kendrapara district, who suffered huge losses final yr because of the lockdown, have been hoping for a revival of their fortune this yr when the second wave of Covid-19 struck. The distress for the farmers started with the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (OMFED) drastically chopping down on milk procurement from them in the district.
“The decision of OMFED to cut down on milk procurement comes as a shock for farmers who are already suffering. The government must look into the issue and come up with a solution,” stated Ramachandra Behera, a dairy farmer of Kendrapara city. The dairy farmers of the district are additionally confronted with an acute scarcity of cattle feed. Besides closure of candy retailers and inns within the district and close by areas have made issues worse as farmers should not in a position to provide their dairy merchandise anyplace.
Several farmers of Karandiapatna had taken up dairy farming after a milk manufacturing centre was arrange within the village 16 years again. While tons of of farmers in and across the village benefited from the centre, the pandemic has hit them unhealthy with revenues in any respect time low. Around 5,000 litre of milk from Karandiapatna and close by villages was collected by the centre each day. But it has stopped now.
Basant Swain, a neighborhood remembers the times when tons of of farmers waited in queue to deposit their milk on the centre which has a chiller. “The centre was set up in 2005 at a cost of `5 lakh to help farmers sell their produce to OMFED. Around 1,200 villagers used to supply milk to the centre from morning till evening until lockdown came into force. Now the farmers are suffering huge losses,” he stated. Another farmer Sarat Behera of Patkura stated round 10,000 dairy farmers have misplaced their livelihoods because of the pandemic.
Unit in-charge of OMFED, Kendrapara Chittaranjan Panda stated OMFED used to acquire 45,000 litre milk from farmers throughout the district on a regular basis. “However, we have reduced the volume during the lockdown period. We are now collecting 20,000 to 25,000 litre milk per day by paying `30 to `35 per litre to the farmers.”
