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Negligence milks Goa Dairy dry
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Sharp decline in sales and the ouster
of the chairman in an unprecedented
no-trust motion on Wednesday has indeed
soured both relations and
revenues at the Goa Dairy in
Curti-Ponda.
Goa Dairy has regularly been in the news for the wrong reasons. In July 2005, Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane
criticised the quality of cattle feed
produced by Goa Dairy, stating it was
both substandard and expensive
in comparison to competitive
products.
Barely two months later, Animal Husbandry Minister Mickky Pacheco and FDA officials raided the Goa Dairy
plant, following complaints regarding
substandard milk.
Then from January onwards, average milk sales have sharply declined from 93,392 litres per day to 75,742 litres
per day in May.
Goa Dairy was once a profit making body. But since March, it has been generating monthly losses of about Rs
20 lakh, says Anup Dessai, former
chairman and present director at Goa
Dairy.
While some say the drop in sales is due to the hike in milk price in January from Rs 15.50 to Rs 16.50 per litre and
decline in supply of milk, some
directors at Goa Dairy and a number of
milk producers have, instead,
alleged that sales have plummeted
mainly due to mismanagement at Goa Dairy.
Take for instance, the homogenised milk, launched by Goa Dairy in July 2005. From a sale of 3,510 litres per day in
January, the sales plunged to 131 litres
in April and in May, not a single litre
of homogenised milk was sold.
Dessai has attributed the plunging
sales in homogenised milk to the sheer
failure in marketing
policy.
According to sources, sales at Goa Dairy have steadily declined over the past few months, although there is high
demand for milk. Some private milk
producers from outside the State have
capitalised on this and have churned
out high sales in the
State.
In addition, decline in local
procurement and an increased dependence on
out-sourcing milk from other States has
only added to Goa Dairys woes.
Local procurement can be raised if proper cattle feed is made available to farmers. But since the past few months,
the Goa Dairys cattle feed plant
has failed to meet the demand for
cattle feed, said Laxman Joshi, a milk
producer and director at Goa
Dairy.
According to Anup Dessai, the Karnataka Milk Federation at Kolar near Bangalore has been the main supplier to
Goa Dairy for the last six years.
We had no problems with Kolar for the past five years. Then last year, some directors began to take commission
from private parties to supply
milk to Goa Dairy. As such, Goa Dairy
reduced its regular order from Kolar.
In turn, Kolar demanded higher rates
because Goa Diary placed a small order.
Commenting on Goa Dairys Cattle feed plant, Mr Dessai said: I had set up a committee to study the market
situation, before making purchases, said
Mr Desai. This practice reaped in good
results. After I ceased to be chairman,
this system was stopped and this has
affected the cattle feed plant, he added.
On the growing losses at the cattle feed plant, Anup Dessai said the problem arose after cotton seed extraction
worth a staggering Rs 1.2 crore were
purchased for the plant in December
2005 and January 2006.We were told
that the materials were bought at
cheaper rates. But when we compared this
rate with other milk unions, we found
our rates much higher. An inquiry is
now being conducted in the matter,
Dessai said.
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HERALD 26/06/06 page 1
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