Farmers Movement Archive

Six more Amroha villages boycott sale of milk until new farm laws are withdrawn

Bijnor: Dairy farmers of six more villages in UP’s Amroha district have stopped supply of milk to the cooperative societies in solidarity with the farmers’ movement. Earlier, three other villages in the district had announced to boycott milk supply till the three farm laws are withdrawn by the Union government. The villagers have also announced that from March 6, they will sell milk at Rs 100 per litre. At present, their supply is sold between Rs 25 and Rs 35 per litre. The villagers have started extracting ghee from the milk so as to increase the shelf life of the product. Now, dairy farmers of the nine villages are also pressing for a law on guarantee of payment and minimum support price for crops. Apart from cooperatives, several private dairies have also not received any milk for the past few days in the district. Anuj Kumar, who owns a private dairy, said, “I have been running a dairy in my village for the past six or seven years and am affiliated with a private dairy. Farmers usually supply milk to me. But for the last four days, they have stopped milk supply. The farmers have not allowed our vehicles to enter the villages. What can we do when farmers are united in not supplying milk.” Talking with TOI, Nitu, a dairy farmer, said, “We have around 20 cattle which produce at least 100 litres of milk a day. We sell it to the milkman. But for the last three days, we have not sold a single drop of milk. The government is not thinking about the welfare of farmers and cattle owners. While the price of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, fertilizers and power tariff have skyrocketed, why can’t milk prices be increased? Cost of milk production is over Rs 40 per litre while we get only Rs 30 or Rs 35 for a litre of milk. Yet we were working 24 hours to fulfill the needs of the common men in the interest of our country. We sell our products at throwaway prices but have to buy other products from the market at high prices. In such a condition, how will farmers survive?”

The Times of India

2021-03-05

Meerut