Perception of milk producers on the performance of milk procurement agencies in Salemdistrict of Tamilnadu

Abstract

This study was undertaken in Salem district of Tamil Nadu to study the perceptions of milk producers about the performance of Dairy cooperatives and prominent milk marketing agency in milk procurement. The two dominant milk procurement agencies namely, Dairy co-operative and a private agency were selected for this study. A total of 150 milk producers (75 from co-operative and 75 from private) were randomly selected from five selected villages to represent five randomly selected blocks of Salem district. Primary data were collected by personally interviewing the respondents with a structured schedule. The findings of the study show that the private agency pays one rupee more per litre of milk than Dairy co-operatives. Majority of the respondents were satisfied with the milk procurement performance of their respective agencies with location of the milk collection centre, time of milk collection, measurement of milk, payment interval and the behavior of staff at the centre. It was also clear that majority of the respondents of Dairy co-operatives were not satisfied with milk testing for fat and SNF. The main constraint faced by the members of co-operative was non-availability of veterinarian in time to deliver the services. Although, the private agency had less number of veterinarians, majority of its respondents were satisfied with the delivery of services by virtue of their effectiveness.