• Sujal Pradhan, NET Correspondent, Sikkim 

The Sikkim Gwala Welfare Forum has applauded and praised the Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang for announcing a minimum procurement price of Rs 40 from the Sikkim Milk Union.

Addressing a press conference, the Chief Coordinator of Sikkim Gwala Welfare Forum – D.R Giri shared “we have received many grievances from farmers since the notification stating a decrease in procurement rate was issued, so after a series of meetings, we met Agriculture Minister L N Sharma and submitted our memorandum, and yesterday the CM announced an increase in procurement price, which we are happy about, as are all farmers.”

He went on to say that 60,000 people in Sikkim are directly affected by milk prices because there are 15000 farmers producing milk who are members of our forum, therefore this statement is welcomed by the residents.

“We are pleased with the increase in procurement, but we must now improve the quality. To do so, we must consider many factors, such as good dietary supplements for cows, and there are many types of cows, so we must choose the right breed for maintaining the right quality of milk. One thing is clear: we cannot rely entirely on the government for this, as the government only organises two to three camps per year, so we must take action on our own.”

This press conference was also addressed by other coordinators – Arjun Rai, Laxuman Sharma and Upen Silal.

Its worthy to note that the Sikkim Chief Minister – Prem Singh Tamang on Tuesday stated that

Sikkim has been paying the highest price for milk and has announced that minimum price of milk would be raised to Rs 40 per litre from March 1, for further motivating the state’s farmers.

In the state, the current minimum price for milk is Rs 36 per litre. He also stated that the farmer incentive of Rs 8 per litre would be maintained, bringing the minimum price of milk to Rs 48.