Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Pradeep Maharathy Sunday attempted to steer clear of the controversy surrounding milk procurement by saying that the government has no direct control over the Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (Omfed).
“The reality is that Omfed is an autonomous organisation and the state government does not have any direct control over it,” Maharathy said here.
The farmers are producing about 6 lakh litres of milk every day, while Omfed has the capacity to procure 5.5 lakh litres a day, the minister said.
To resolve the issue, Omfed has decided to set up a three lakh litre, ultramodern automated dairy plant near Trishulia in Cuttack district soon, the minister said.
The plant would be like the ones in Gujarat and other places of the country and will process milk and produce milk products more effectively and quickly than the old plants of Omfed in the city, sources said.
“Instead of pouring a large quantity of milk onto the streets, the farmers should distribute the milk to patients in hospitals,” he said.
In the last one month, dairy farmers spilled large quantities of milk on the roads in Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Bargarh. The farmers also staged a protest here and distributed milk to people free of cost.
The president of the Orissa milk farmers association, Rabi Behera, said the minimum support price (MSP) for milk should be fixed every year.