The farmers, led by All-India Kisan Sabha, agitated to get the right price for milk given that the cost of production is going up on a daily basis. Alleging that the dairy cooperatives and private organisations came together to buy milk at cheap rates from farmers under the garb of lockdown, the association claimed that the selling price of milk and other dairy products produced by the same companies never came down.

“Under the garb of lockdown the milk was procured from the producers at 20 per litre only for the cow milk and Rs 40 per litre for buffalo milk. This was cheating and we have urged the government to give an allowance of Rs 5 per litre to every farmer,” Ajit Navale of AIKS, who headed the statewide agitation, said.

Navle claimed that the farmers had met dairy development minister Sunil Kedar and it was decided that the state would implement a provision of Fair and Remunerative Pricing (FRP) for dairy producers as well, but that is yet to happen.

“We want the government to announce minimum price of Rs 35 per litre for cow milk and Rs 60 per litre for the buffalo milk so that the farmers can deal with the rising cost of production and make some profit as well,” Navale said.