Staff Report
KARACHI: (MArch-4) The increase in the prices of cow, buffalo and other animal fodder have forced dairy farmers to increase the price of milk in the city by 14 percent, dairy farmers said here Wednesday.

From March 1, fresh milk is being sold at Rs 25 per litre, up from Rs 22 per litre. Similarly, the price of yoghurt, the main by-product of milk, has increased 25 percent to Rs 40 per kg.

“The prices of the four main ingredients of cattle feed have doubled over the past three to four years, which has forced milk traders to increase the prices,” said Haji Akhtar Chowdry, chairman, Dairy Farmers Association.

The dairy farmers argue that during the last five years, there has been no increase in milk prices. “But now the costs have increased a lot, which has forced the milk producers to increase the prices,” said Mr Chowdry.

He added that milk producers had informed the concerned authorities before raising the prices. However, Raeesuddin Paracha, executive district officer of the city district government - the regulator of prices of essential commodities - said that the government has rejected milk trader’s proposals to increase milk prices.

“The government will take action against milk traders if they will not reduce the prices,” Mr Paracha said and added that milk traders informed verbally to the city government that they wanted to raise prices but city government did not accept their demands.

According to dairy farmers, the prices of chowker (an ingredient of animal fodder) has doubled to Rs 250 per 40 kg during the last four years. The price of khalli, another ingredient of animal fodder, has also doubled to Rs 500 per 40 kg, while cereal prices have also increased to Rs 600 from Rs 300 per 40 kg in the last four years, they said.

“Most dairy farmers have gone bankrupt due to the continuous rise in feeding cost,” said Mr Chowdry.

The prices of cows and buffalos have also doubled over the past few years to Rs 40,000. Four years back, a cow or buffalo was available in the range of Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000, but now a milk giving cow or buffalo is priced from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, dairy farmers said.

Karachi, a mega city of around 15 million people, consumes around four million litres fresh milk daily. The city produces 3.5 million litres fresh milk daily, while the remaining 500,000 litres come from interior Sindh.

There are around 550,000 to 600,000 cows and buffalos in the city.

DAILY TIMES Pakistan