DDC hikes milk procurement price

State-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) has raised the milk procurement price by Rs 2 per litre with effect from February 13 due to rise in production cost of the farmers.
The decision will give some respite to the agitating farmers, who have been asking the government to hike the procurement price of the milk as they have been suffering loss. The DDC pays farmers less and sells milk in more price to bridge the loss it is making from import of milk from India.

The DDC has been importing milk in higher price from India than it is paying to the farmers despite government’s policy of import substitution.
A meeting between representatives of DDC and the Central Milk Cooperative Association today signed an agreement to hike the procurement price.
“We have raised the price by an average of Rs 2 per litre for milk containing four per cent fat and eight per cent SNF,” said acting deputy director general of DDC Giridhar Bajracharya.
DDC –that has processing plants in Balaju, Biratnagar, Hetuda, Butwal, Kohalpur and Dhalkebar in Janakpur – currently enjoys a 40 per cent share in the country’s dairy market but is in loss due to red tape and mismanagement like other public enterprises.