The price of turri, which is used as fodder for the cattle, is at present touching Rs 500-Rs 600 per quintal and as per dairy owners, it is almost double the normal price during this time of the year.

Malkiat Singh, 54-year-old farmer from Dhandra village who also runs a dairy, claims, “The price of turri has broken my back. It is very rare that prices go this high. This happens when the factory owners, who have furnaces, stock up turri on their premises. We had this kind of situation some ten years ago and the dairy farmers had to stage a protest to make the factory owners release some of the stocked turri. I remember that we had threatened to burn a trolley full of turri if it was found standing outside a factory.”

He adds, “Not only the prices, the supply of turri is also not very smooth and whatever we are getting is slightly moist, which is not good for the cattle. But then we dairy farmers have no choice but to buy whatever is available and at whatever cost.”

Source: Chandigarh Newsline