MULTAN, March 14: In the absence of any state-controlled milk collection and procurement authority, the livestock farmers are allegedly being exploited by multinational and private national companies in the collection of milk. The farmers are hardly being paid Rs14 per litre while the processed milk is being sold at Rs38 a litre in the open market.
The shortage of fresh milk is gradually increasing the trend in the consumers to purchase packed milk at high rates. On the other hand, the poor livestock farmers are getting a better return on their products to some extent. The companies are paying the livestock owners on a daily or weekly basis as compared with the monthly mode of payment of the middleman.
The farmers have another advantage in that they are being paid on the basis of fat percentage whereas earlier they were made payments on quantity basis irrespective of the quality.
In view of the competition between the national and multinational companies engaged in milk collection the farmers are also getting livestock feed, de-worming and growth enhancing formulas from them on a limited scale for the better health of their cattle to get better production.
Purchase and procurement on the basis of fat percentage is encouraging the farmers to give their animals well-formulated feeds for better productivity.
The private milk collection companies are procuring at least 0.6 million litres of milk daily from south Punjab, which constitutes 40 per cent of the total milk produced while 60 per cent milk is sold directly to consumers through middlemen.
A major contribution to milk collection is being made by the villages and towns around the big cities which include Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, Layyah, Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan and Lodhran.
The companies succeeded in increasing their daily procurement from 20 to 40 per cent during the last two years. Two big groups are operating their milk processing plants in south Punjab. Four companies - one multinational and three national - are engaged in milk collection concentrating mainly in the riverine areas.
All across the remote areas on the banks of the Indus and Chenab the companies have set up milk collection centres whose number is increasing rapidly. But the companies are allegedly not taking into consideration the interests of the poor and landless farmers.
A company official said that they were purchasing milk with six per cent fat at Rs16 per litre and that with four per cent fat at an even lower rate of Rs13 per litre.
Dairy expert Dr Aslam Baloch said the average milk production in south Punjab was about 1.5 million to 1.6 million litres a day of all animals, including buffalo, cow and sheep. The average production somehow drops during the four months after April 15 due to parturition and pregnancy.
The data collected by Dawn from four private companies revealed that these companies are procuring almost 40 per cent milk of the total production. Out of a total of 0.6 million litres, about 0.4 million is processed by two companies at their plants while the rest of the milk is transported to Sindh and upper Punjab for onward processing and marketing.
Dr Baloch said the gradual non-availability and shortage of fresh milk due to the collection by private companies was compelling the consumers to buy processed milk at very high rates. He feared that in a few years fresh milk might not be available to the consumers, especially that of urban areas, due to the increasing organised network of the companies.
Currently, fresh milk is available to consumers at Rs30 to Rs34 per litre in the major cities of south Punjab. The price increased by Rs6 to Rs8 per litre in a year.
The milk producers, on the other hand, are not being provided some special incentives by the companies like payments in advance, de-wormers, vaccines, fodder and growth promoters for the livestock on a large scale.
The producers now do not have to transport the milk to the cities where they could get better rates for their produce. However, for regulation of milk marketing, transportation, storage and collection a proper authority should be set up which should also ensure the supply of milk to the consumers at nominal prices.