From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Dec 27: In a bid to rush to the help of farmers affected by severe drought conditions in as many as 139 of the 176 taluks of the 29 out of the 30 districts of Karnataka, the State Government on Tuesday directed all the14 milk unions in the State to provide extra incentive of Rupee 1 to 2 a litre of milk to milk producers depending on their profits.

The State Government has been paying incentive of Rs 5 per litre of milk. It has increased one rupee, from Rs 4 to 5 from this month onwards.

There are nearly 9 lakh farmers supply milk to various milk societies and unions in the State.
Milk production has been reduced from 72 lakh litres to 65 lakh litres per day owing to drought.

Karnataka’s Animal Husbandry and Sericulture Minister A Manju, who held a day-long meeting with officials and union representatives, told reporters that a decision to hike the incentive to milk was taken following severe drought in the State.

However, he clarified that the consumers would not be hit by the decision and price of milk will not be increased.

The minister, who discussed the issue of availability of fodder for livestock, said that inter-state transport of fodder has been banned.

The department had set up 30 cow-sheds across the state, with each cow-sheds housing over 3,000 cattle.

The fodder stock would be sufficient to cater to the needs of cow-sheds for the next 90 days, he added.