Karachi likely to face acute shortage of milk

Dairy farmers' associations threaten to stop supply in wake of action against price hike

KARACHI: Karachi is on the verge of an acute milk shortage as dairy farmers' associations have threatened to halt milk supply to the metropolis in the wake of the commissioner's action against dairy farmers selling milk at higher prices.

Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association president Shakir Umer warned that if their arrested representatives were not released before midnight, they would stop supplying milk to the city. He also warned that they would spill all the milk on the National Highway, Super Highway and Mehran Highway to mark their protest. Meanwhile, another farmers' association president, Haji Sikander, called off the strike and agreed to sell milk at the official rate. He will soon meet Karachi commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui to resolve the issue. For Sikander, if other associations are not ready to reduce the prices, it is not his concern. Siddiqui, on the other hand, said that the law will take its course if anyone defied the government's orders. "We will take action more strictly now," he said.

Read: At Rs95 per litre, dairy prices in Karachi exceed petrol prices

Milk sellers in the metropolis unilaterally raised the prices of milk and yoghurt on Monday by Rs10 per litre and Rs20 per kilogram to Rs94 and Rs140 respectively. The farmers' association claimed that the last time the price was increased was in 2012 and the price of fodder had drastically increased since.

A representative of the dairy and cattle farmers' association, Khawaja Amir, told The Express Tribune that each cow and buffalo eats around 12 kilogrammes of grass a day. The price of this grass, according to him, has increased from Rs100 to Rs400 per maund.

"There is a mechanism according to which we have increased the prices of milk," he said, adding that they were ready to negotiate with the government only if their members were released.

With regards to the hormonal injections that are administered to cows to increase milk production, he said that Boostin and Somatech were such injections and even their prices had drastically increased over the last few years. "The injected cow eats more and produces more milk," he said.  Meanwhile, the Retailers' Association chief, Aslam Nagori, said that though they were not on strike, they had to shut down their shops as they were not getting milk from farmers at the rate prescribed by the government.

Difference of units

Nagori explained that they received 40 kilogrammes of milk from farmers which is equal to 37.324 litres and then had to add almost 2.75 litres more to balance the equation. "We also have to bear the cost of polythene bags and rubber bands along with the cost of transportation," he said, adding that the government should take action against farmers selling milk in kilogrammes, not litres. To this, the commissioner responded that he was not aware of this issue and would take action if the retailer's association contacted him.

Consumers

Meanwhile, citizens faced problems finding milk in the metropolis as most of the milk shops were closed on Tuesday. Asim Ashraf, a resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, told The Express Tribune that there was no milk shop open in his area. "I went to Saddar to get milk for my children, but there wasn't any shop open there either," he said, adding that he ended up buying tetra pack milk.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2015.