Operation Flood manages to recruit only 17,356 farmers out of 2 lakh in Haryana

Cooperative members line up to deposit milk: poor responseRohtak is a prosperous community 75 km from Delhi by road. This predominantly agricultural district (area: 3,843 sq km) is the home of the famous Murrah buffalo, a highly productive animal sought by milkmen all over the country, and of the equally good Haryana and Hissar cows. Yet Operation Flood has managed to recruit only 17,356 farmers out of 2 lakh.The milk is collected twice a day from about 175 villages along 20 routes, each 250 km long, and is brought to the factory - a feeder balancing plant installed in 1976 - where it is pasteurised. The bulk of the milk is then transported to Delhi, where Mother Dairy processes it. Although the Rohtak plant can handle 1 lakh litres a day, it processes much less - only 42,217 litres on November 15. According to G. P. Mathur, general manager of the plant, procurement dropped to as little as 1,000 litres a day last summer.Why Operation Flood is a trickle here is mainly due to a deep-rooted reluctance on the part of the local Jats, to sell milk, which is a symbol of respectability.Doodh becha to pooth becha(selling milk is like selling your own son) is a common saying here. Also, milk is a substantial part of the Haryanvi's diet - he consumes 440 grams a day, as compared to the Rajasthani's 90 grams. Milk is also converted into ghee, and farm families and labourers drink the leftover lassi.High Costs:Recently, DMS and Mother Dairy agreed to pay the Rohtak farmers Rs 2.81 per litre of 6.5 per cent fat milk, but local producers say that this is far from remunerative. And according to Mathur, he has to spend an average of 19 paise per litre on transportation - in the flush season. In the summer the cost shoots up to as much as Rs 2 a litre. No wonder that the Rohtak plant will, this year, suffer losses of Rs 40 lakh.The best cooperative in the district is in Kahnour, a village 25 km from Rohtak. Collection last month averaged 1,100 litres a day, up from 500 litres in summer. Rajaram Katyal, cooperative chairman, says that collection would be higher if prices were higher - Katyal himself holds back a substantial portion of the produce from his seven buffaloes for family consumption.Even during the flush season, only about 200 of the society's 450 members actually bring in their milk; most are poor labourers with one or two milch animals each. Complaints centre on the prices, and the lack of fodder - the cooperative pays them according to the fat content of their milk and as most animals are fed on coarse grass, fat content is not very high. Some of the producers spend a lot of money on cottonseed feed, which raises the fat content but is not profitable.So the cooperative loses even its staunchest adherents. Chaudhry Mangeram, a rich Jat, was one of the founding members. He bought 10 buffaloes especially for the purpose, but low prices drove him and his buffaloes away. Now he has a stable of 40 buffaloes and cows, converts most of his milk to ghee, which sells for Rs 50 a kg. Mangeram also rears calves on his miik, and sells these for fabulous profitsDim Prospects: The cooperatives have also failed to crack the stranglehold of thedudhias(milk traders). A cooperative gives each of its members pass books, and they are paid cumulatively every 10 days. Adudhia, on the other hand, exploits the villager by lending him large sums of money in times of need. Repayment is in milk, at rigidly fixed rates, irrespective of the season or the fat content - the going rate in Lahli, a small village close to Rohtak with a cooperative of its own, was Rs 88 per maund, which works out to Rs 2.20 a litre. The dudhia's, musclemen ensure that the villager stays in line.Even with dim prospects, Mathur is optimistic. He estimates that Rohtak town itself can absorb between 10,000 and 12,000 litres a day. But his plant sells only 2,000 litres a day. The reason of course is that with fresh milk available at home, no one is too keen to buy the dairy blend. However, Mathur is going ahead with a plan to market his milk in sachets.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 24, 2013--- ENDS ---

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Operation Flood manages to recruit only 17,356 farmers out of 2 lakh in Haryana

Rohtak is a prosperous community 75 km from Delhi by road. This predominantly agricultural district is the home of the famous Murrah buffalo, a highly productive animal sought by milkmen all over the country, and of the equally good Haryana and Hissar cows.

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