Milk procurement remained stable during the COVID pandemic

Pashu Sandesh, 4 December 2021

Answering a question in Lok Sabha on the impact of COVD on the dairy sector, the Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala informed the house that, the average milk procurement from dairy farmers including procurement price paid by cooperative sector to dairy farmers has remained stable during the COVID pandemic. The average milk procurement per day during April 2019 was 473.4 Lakh litres per day (LLPD) which got increased to 480.56 LLPD in April 2020 and was 512.13 LLPD in April 2021. The average milk procurement price paid to the dairy farmers by the cooperative sector during April 2019 was Rs 34.38 per kg, during April 2020 was Rs 38.01 per kg and during April 2021 was Rs 39.23 per kg (for 6% fat content and 9% solid, not fat content).

The milk situation in the country was reviewed regularly in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying in order to monitor the milk procurement, sale, price and stocks of skimmed milk powder (SMP), butter and ghee etc. During the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying collected information on milk procurement, price, sale and stocks on a daily and weekly basis from cooperatives as well as some private dairies to analyze the dairy business situation in the country.