A committee of costing experts from the Institute of Business Administration and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants will come up with a mechanism to determine milk prices.
This was decided by Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui during a meeting on Friday when he also formed three more sub-working committees under deputy commissioners of districts West, Malir and South. They will present their recommendations regarding the cost of milk in one week.
However, the dairy farmers insisted for an interim relief as they argued that officially capped milk prices were harming their business and that their businesses will collapse if their prices remain low.
Earlier, in September, the Dairy and Cattle Farmers Associations increased milk prices without the government’s consent. Milk sellers unilaterally raised the prices of milk and yoghurt by Rs10 per litre and Rs20 per kilogramme 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 then.
Two days ago, one of the dairy farmers cartels threatened to auction off milk in the open market which could have driven the prices up to Rs100 per litre. Meanwhile, Siddiqui insisted that milk is an essential item and he will never allow the farmers to increase the price on their own.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2015.
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