TEAM HERALD
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PONDA: Claiming that Goa Dairy loses Rs 48 lakh every month on cattle-feed subsidy to milk farmers, Goa Dairy Chairman Shirkant Naik has urged the State government for added support to continue the subsidy.
Naik was speaking to media after he was re-elected unopposed for the second consecutive term as the Goa Dairy chairman.
“The price of the cattle feed supplied by the Goa Dairy to its milk farmers is lowest compared to other states,” informed Naik.
“There won’t be any state in the country where the cattle feed is sold to the milk farmers at Rs 12 per kg, Rs 4 less than the actual purchase price. About 1,200 tonnes of cattle feed is sold monthly and the cost borne by the Goa Dairy towards cattle feed is cutting into the profits. We have written to the State government for some help,” said Naik.
“Presently, the financial condition of the Goa Dairy is stable, however it will be of some help if the government helps us in the subsidy on cattle feed,” said Naik without disclosing the profit figures.
The election to elect chairman is held every year and the election to elect the Board of Directors is held every five years. All the 12 Board of Directors were present during the election process and Naik was the lone candidate to the chairman’s post.
Naik said various government schemes including efforts from milk farmers have increased local milk production by 7,000 litres daily.
“At present, on an average local production of milk has increased by 7,000 litres. The current demand for milk in the market is over 2 lakh litres and Goa Dairy sells about 70,000 litres.”
“Out of the 70,000 litres of milk that we sell, 52,000 litres is produced locally and the rest is procured from neighbouring states,” informed Naik.
