Chennai: Chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday announced a ₹3-per-litre hike in the procurement price of milk procured by cooperative societies from dairy farmers, raising the total procurement from ₹38 to ₹41 per litre.“The govt has decided to increase the procurement price by ₹1 per litre through cooperative societies. In addition, the incentive given to farmers by the govt would be increased from ₹3 to ₹5 per litre,” Vijay said in the assembly under rule 110. The hike comes at a time when Aavin’s daily milk procurement was steadily declining amid competition from private players offering a procurement price of up to ₹45 per litre.According to the govt, Tamil Nadu has 8,800 milk cooperative societies, from which around 34 lakh litres of milk are procured daily from 3.16 lakh producers. Aavin sells around 31 lakh litres of milk to consumers every day, while the rest is used to produce milk products. The hike was aimed at easing the burden of rising costs of cattle feed and labour of the 3.16 lakh dairy farmers.Since 2022, the govt has been paying ₹35 per litre as the procurement price and ₹3 per litre as an incentive for milk containing 4.3% fat and 8.2% other solids, making the effective price ₹38. Vijay said the hike will entail an additional expenditure of ₹30 crore monthly and ₹360 crore a year.In a statement, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said the hike was insufficient and the price should be increased by at least ₹7. Anbumani said the private milk companies are paying at least ₹12 extra per litre of milk to the milk producers.
