Big farmers are unable to keep their commitment to organisations like Nestle and Milkfed. The small farmers, who supply either to small chilling centres or the directly to the end-users, are also facing problems of reaching the consumers.
Reports of some dairy farmers throwing away milk are also pouring in.
The persons having vehicles attached with big milk collecting centres are facing problems in crossing from one district to other, as many districts are not allowing the vehicles.
Punjab is among those states with high milk production.
There are nearly 24 lakh cows and nearly 50 lakh buffaloes in Punjab. Nearly 1 crore litre milk is supplied to various big concerns and chilling centres daily in Punjab. The total production according to Punjab Dairy Development Board is nearly three crore litres. About 26 lakh litre milk is supplied to Nestle India based at Moga and about 16 lakh to Milkfed, said Punjab Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association. The milk is supplied to lakhs of homes in every town of the state mainly by milkmen from rural and semi urban areas.
“The vehicles attached with Nestle are stopped in various districts due to curfew and not allow the plying of vehicles though some districts like Moga, Ludhiana they are facing problems. Under such circumstances, the big farmers having hundreds of livestock facing hardships in supplying of milk. The farmers are also not getting feed for animals due to complete shutdown.
The labourers are not coming to cut the fodder from fields fearing police and the already stored green fodder is not sufficient for long,” said Punjab Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association president Daljit Singh Sadarpura.
