April 10, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1429

KARACHI, April 9: A random survey of city markets showed on Wednesday that milk continued to be sold at rates ranging from the officially-fixed retail rate of Rs34 to Rs42 per litre. And dairy farmers claimed that there was no reduction of fat content on their part and they were selling milk with six to seven per cent fat content to wholesalers at Rs37.5 per litre.

No meeting was held between dairy farmers and the city government on Wednesday while the former had been reportedly asked to file a request for a meeting in writing.

Shaukat Mukhtar of the Dairy Farmers Association Karachi said the issue of lowering fat content and reducing milk prices was on the hold since they didn’t receive any such request from wholesalers.

“We are still supplying milk at Rs37.5 per litre to wholesalers. But, the issue of reducing fat in milk and selling it at Rs34 per litre will come to the fore sooner or later,” he said, adding that the determination of prices of milk on the basis of fat content was a universally-adopted phenomenon and manufacturers of packaged milk, mostly operating in the interior of Sindh and Punjab, also bought the produce from dairy farmers with the same yardstick.

Producers of packaged milk, he said, sold the commodity with 3.5pc fat without mentioning the source of milk. “Consumers have to adjust to the phenomenon here. If wholesalers demand so, we can install equipment to separate cream at dairy farms. The equipment, available in the market between Rs35,000 and Rs200,000, which can be shared by a group of farmers,” he said.

The minimum limit of fat content, according to the pure food laws, is 3.5pc for cow milk and 5pc in case of buffalo milk. In the absence of proper mechanism to reduce fat content, the traditional method is to add cow’s milk or water to buffalo milk. This could be done by anyone at any level from dairy farmers to wholesalers or retailers.

Supposing that there was no reduction at the wholesalers’ end and milk was being supplied to them at Rs37.5 per litre puts a question mark over the quality of milk being supplied at lower rates in many areas of the city. If no adulteration is done, which is hard to believe, retailers suffer losses.

Retailers Association of Pakistan President Hafiz Nisar Gaddi said retailers had been a victim of the tussle between the dairy farmers and the city government.

“We are suffering huge losses since retailers are still getting milk at higher rates but we are forced to sell at official rates. On the other hand, the city government is harassing our colleagues with arrests and fines,” he said.

The city government, actively pursuing the cause to ensure the availability of milk at official rates, has not conducted any drive to check adulteration and is focused on only one aspect. However, the controversy aside, consumers seem to be unconcerned to the entire matter since shops selling milk at lower rates are operating in almost all areas.

“The cost of milk varies at different shops. I am getting it at Rs34 per litre and have no complaint over its quality while my neighbour gets it at Rs36 and there are others who buy it at Rs42,” said Hasan Mehmood, a resident of F.B Area.

Dawn spoke to a number of people living in different localities and got more or less the same reply.

When the city government’s enterprise and investment promotion department’s Dr Shahab Imam was contacted, he said he had asked representatives of the dairy farmers’ association to send a request in writing for a meeting. He denied that any meeting of the city government officials was held with the dairy farmers at any level and refused to accept the version of the dairy farmers on fat content.

“They have to sell milk of the Rs42 quality at Rs34 per litre and there is a question mark on that. As far as my investigation, there is no middleman or wholesaler at all involved in the supply of milk who is held responsible for raising prices, both by dairy farmers and retailers. The entire profit goes to dairy farmers and retailers as they have established their monopoly over the dairy business. Both of them are liars,” he said, adding that the city government was in the process of documenting economy and there was a glimmer of hope that this issue would be solved for good.

He also said that producers of packaged milk had also been asked to explain the legal authority under which they raised prices unilaterally. Letters had been sent to the companies in this regard, he said.

According to Revenue EDO Matanat Ali Khan, 10 wholesalers were arrested in Lyari for selling milk at higher rates on Wednesday while a total of Rs64,000 fine was received. The total amount of fine collected since April 1 was Rs2 million. So far, 215 arrests and 500 challans have been made.