Milk may stay on boil due to cattle, fodder shortage

Milk prices, which have been rising steadily in the past year, may hit new highs in the year ahead, as production suffers due to insufficient fodder and fewer new lactating cattle, and farmers raise prices to make up for losses in the last two years.

Fodder availability has declined thanks to increased exports of wheat used in cattle feed and damage to fodder crops from heat waves and surprise rains; at the same, there have been fewer inductions of lactating cattle, in a lag effect of fewer artificial inseminations during the worst of the pandemic days.

"As the farmers were being paid lower than their production cost in many states-excluding Gujarat, which is a stronghold of cooperative farmers reduced the induction of new animals," said R.S.

Sodhi, president of the Indian Dairy Association and former managing director of Amul.

"Farmers have also fed cattle less to cope with their losses amid high feed and fodder costs," he added. This also led to a fall in yield.

Wholesale price inflation in milk stood at 6.99% in December and 8.96% in January and hit 10.33% in February, rising for a third straight month.

According to Sodhi, retail milk prices have gone up by 13-15% in the past 15 months amid a worldwide increase in cereal prices, which has started stabilizing now.