Milk yield falls as rains render fodder scarce

VISAKHAPATNAM: Milk yield has fallen sharply by around 20% in the districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram with scarcity of fodder, due to incessant rains, affecting cattle.
According to sources, of the 1.25 lakh dairy farmers in the three districts, nearly 70% hail from Visakhapatnam, whereas 20% are from Vizianagaram and remaining 10% from Srikakulam.
"The scarcity of fodder hampers production. The continuous rain and cold weather conditions are a major disadvantage for the dairy sector. The yielding capacity of cows greatly reduces," Andhra Pradesh Milk Producers' Co-operative Association working president J V Satyanarayana Murthy told TOI. There are nearly 1,800 societies in the three districts, with each society having around 100 to 250 farmers, he informed.
Dairy farms in Anakapalle, Chodavaram and Kotapadu have been worse affected due to the weather conditions, said sources.
Pointing to the drop in production, Ramanapalem Milk Producers' Association secretary C Raja Rao said, "Normally the cows give around 3.5 to 4 litres which has fallen to 2 to 2.5 litres." Being part of a society, which collects around 450 to 500 litres on a regular basis, Rao said that production has dropped by around 120 litres during the past week. "If there is no change in weather conditions during the next few days, the cows will be affected badly and consequently hit the production," he added.
At the same time, sources at the Visakha Dairy, which has a market share of around 75% in the three districts, the procurement has been falling short by around one lakh litres due to the incessant rains. "We procure around 6 lakh litres each day and due to these rains, now we are able to get only around 5 lakh litres," a senior dairy official said.
Visakha Dairy managing director S V Ramana said, "The situation is quite grim in Srikakulam when compared to other two districts. In Srikakulam alone we are facing a deficit of 50,000 litres."
Meanwhile, animal husbandry department sources said that five cattle in Vizianagaram and three in Visakhapatnam district died during the last one week due to inclement weather conditions.