What's new in Kerala?
Free milk for migrants and nursery kids to solve an extra-milk glut in the market, because of the shutdown of hotels and restaurants over the coronavirus.
Free milk for migrants and nursery kids to solve an extra-milk glut in the market, because of the shutdown of hotels and restaurants over the coronavirus.
This is a major relief for both milk farmers, who were worried about non-procurement and losing crucial earnings, and the vulnerable population of migrants and children, who are under stay-at-home orders over the lockdown.
A large inventory of milk, a commodity that needs to be moved in cycles of days as it has a short shelf life, was lying unsold because of the drop in sales over the shut down of hotels and bottlenecks in interstate movement amidst the lockdown.
MILMA— short for Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation— the state's ubiquitous coop behemoth nearly owns the market. The problem was more severe in Kerala's northern districts, where it procures 6 lakh lit every day, and are currently like ghost towns over covid-19 scare.
Unable to sell off stocks, MILMA had stopped procurement on Wednesday, pushing farmers to a crisis. In Kerala's Palakkad, for instance, farmers poured onto the road their daily collection of 80000 liters of milk, in a desperate show to highlight their plight.
To solve the oversupply glut, the extra milk will be given to migrant labours and children, said CM Pinarayi Vijayan today. The govt has also tied up with Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh govts to move the milk and convert unsold milk into milk powder.
