Milk cooperatives, dairy farms in Assam facing problem due to lockdown restrictions

Guwahati, Apr 19 () Problems in procuring andselling milk has impacted milk cooperatives, farms andindividual producers severely across Assam during the ongoing40-day lockdown period, though distribution and sale of milkare exempted from restrictions during this period.

It has also become difficult to arrange fodder asmost of the trucks carrying feed for livestock have stoppedplying since the 21-day lockdown was announced on March 24,and then extended till May 3 to fight the coronaviruspandemic.

Organised cooperatives and individual dairy farmershave laid off employees to cut the cost due to drastic fall insales and at times threw away milk on roads and rivers as theycould not sell it due to lack of transportation and closure ofmarkets.

Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative Society chairman RanjibSarma told , "The lockdown has affected the operations ofthe cooperative in multiple ways. Our daily procurement atthis time of the year is between 17,000 litres and 18,000litres. But now, we are procuring around 10,000 litres of milkper day."

The Sitajakhala Milk Cooperative Sciety, one of theoldest and largest dairy cooperatives of Assam located inMorigaon district, is able to process and market an average of7,000 litres of milk daily out of the procured raw materialnow," he said.

Initially there was confusion about the servicesexempted from lockdown restrictions with the information fromthe Centre not percolating to the local level, therebyaffecting procurement and sale of milk, Sarma said.

"Another problem we are facing is the fear psychosisamong villagers, who are trying to restrict entry of peoplefrom the cooperative or other villages. This is creatingdifficulty in movement of traffic which has affecteddistribution of fodder and milk," he said.

Since most of the fodder comes from outside the state,its supply has completely stopped after the lockdown came intoforce, though efforts are being made to get the necessarypermission for movement of vehicles carrying such goods, hesaid.

"Usually our inventory of such raw materials is forabout 15 days. It has already gone down and may lead toclosure of our operations till the lockdown is lifted, if thefeed does not arrive," Sarma said.

The price of milk has been reduced to Rs 50 a litrefrom Rs 54 for disposal of its daily production, he said.

"We have also entered into a joint venture with theDirectorate of Dairy Development, Government of Assam foruninterrupted supply of milk to Guwahati. The cooperative hasalso undertaken door-to-door distribution of its products onrequest from consumers," he added.

Partner of Kamrup-based small dairy initiative, EastValley Agro Ventures, Anjan Phukan, said that the firm's dailymilk production has gone down to 50 litres from 120 litres ona normal day, mostly due to lack of feed.

"As milk distribution has become a major problem inthe lockdown, we are making paneer from the milk and sellingit in nearby villages. However, villagers do not prefer buyingpaneer as fish and poultry are abundant," he added.

The daily sale of East Valley Agro Ventures has fallento Rs 1,500 from Rs 6,000 earlier, forcing the firm to retainonly two employees out of four, he said.

Phukan, who had left a swanky corporate job in an MNCin Bangalore and returned to Assam two years ago to be anentrepreneur, had taken a "huge loan" to begin the star-updairy venture.

"We are not even getting the operational cost Thethree-month moratorium on EMIs announced by the RBI will notsolve any problem. Unless the government helps us with somegrants, we won't survive. Unfortunately, small industries likeus never get the attention," he added.

The government-controlled Barapeta Cattle Farm inBarpeta district is also no different from others with dailyproduction going down to less than 80 litres from 130 litres afew weeks back due to insufficient supply of fodder.

"Even for this amount of produce, we are havingproblems in dispatching the milk. We were supplying milk tomarkets in Barpeta and Barpeta Road. Now we are not able to doso due to the lockdown," Barapeta Cattle Farm manager SunilSarma said.

The firm, which has 125 cattle, nowadays suppliesaround 40 litres of milk to the nearby SSB camp, while therest is distributed free of cost among the poor and the staffwithin the campus, he informed.

Tapan Roy, a milk vendor from Hailakandi district inBarak valley, rued that police did not allow him to sell milkduring the initial five days of the lockdown following whichhe incurred a huge loss, but now a pass has been issued tohim.

"I have seven cows and collect around 50 litres, butnow it is around 30 litres. I am not able to provide fodder tothem due to lockdown. My main problem is the scarcity offodder... This is my only earning source," he added.

Tezpur-based dairy farmer Punya Upaddhay soughtgovernment help to mitigate a daily loss of 500 litres everyday being faced by his society -- Tezpur Grazing Somobai DairyLtd.

"We have around 400 cows and 300 buffalos. We aresuffering due to the absence of fodder for production of milk.This has led to reducing the staff to four from the earlier 15as we are unable to pay them," he said. TR COR

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