Agreement to not increase milk price

The dairy businesspersons who recently hiked price of milk citing the rise in production cost of milk have withdrawn their decision to increase the price. 

A meeting held recently at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) among the stakeholders took the decision for the same. Rajendra Prasad Yadav, executive director of the National Dairy Development Board, informed that discussion among the secretary at the MoALD, Board and the concerned bodies concluded to roll back the decision to recently hiked price of milk at present. The meeting decided to conduct a scientific study considering the production cost of milk, inflation in market price and purchasing power of the consumers for the adjustment of price, informed Yadav.

Though the Board said that it appraised the MoALD, Dairy Development Corporation, Nepal Dairy Association among others about the decision on Sunday, Dairy Industry Association Chairperson Raj Kumar Dahal shared that there was no such agreement or decision taken in the Sunday meeting. Some milk businesspersons hiked milk price by Rs 14 per litre since last Saturday. They had cited the rise in production cost and high cost while buying from the farmers. The Nepal Dairy Association and some umbrella organizations of farmers and consumer rights had protested the act of some limited dairy entrepreneurs.  The Board is entrusted with the responsibility of formulating policies to fix the price of milk and to recommend the revised price to the government in case of need.