TNI Bureau: Alleging that OMFED has stopped procuring milk from Nabarangpur district, more than 2,500 dairy farmers staged a massive protest on Saturday by dumping nearly 40,000 litres of milk at the Mendabeda chilling plant near Umarkote. The protest reportedly resulted in losses of around Rs 13 lakh and has intensified concerns over the livelihood of thousands of dairy farmers in the district.

According to farmers, OMFED’s Jeypore plant has been refusing to accept milk from Nabarangpur for nearly a month, citing poor quality and alleged adulteration. However, the farmers have rejected these allegations, maintaining that the milk supplied by them meets all quality standards prescribed by OMFED.

Milk collected from dairy cooperative societies across the district is transported through 11 chilling plants and routed via the Umarkote chilling centre to the Jeypore plant. Farmers claimed that while procurement had been irregular for weeks, OMFED completely stopped accepting milk consignments from the district over the last three days, leaving thousands of litres unsold.

With no alternative disposal mechanism and no response from authorities despite repeated appeals, the farmers resorted to dumping the milk in protest. Representatives of dairy societies said they had informed senior OMFED officials and the Animal Resources Development Minister about the crisis, but no concrete action was taken.

The procurement halt has created serious financial uncertainty for dairy farmers, many of whom invested in cattle through bank loans under government-supported dairy development schemes. Farmers fear they may struggle to repay these loans if milk collection is not resumed immediately.

The protesters also questioned why milk from neighbouring districts such as Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri continues to be accepted by the Jeypore OMFED plant, while consignments from Nabarangpur are being rejected.

Sources indicated that the Jeypore plant may be facing capacity constraints and weak market demand for milk and dairy products. Farmers, however, alleged that quality concerns are being used as a reason to deny procurement instead of addressing the actual issue.

The agitating farmers have demanded compensation for the dumped milk and immediate restoration of regular procurement. They have also warned of a large-scale road blockade if their demands are not met and the situation remains unresolved.