‘Desi’ cow milk fails to catch fancy of consumers

Vijay C Roy

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 1

Launched with much fanfare in July this year, the ‘desi’ cow milk has failed to meet the expectations of Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd, which markets its products under “Vita” brand. Concerned over the low offtake, the federation is planning to hire a marketing consultant for the product, especially in Gurgaon.

The high cost and low awareness among masses are said to be the main reasons behind the low acceptance of the ‘desi’ cow milk. It is priced at Rs 60 per litre while the cow milk of mixed breed by other players is priced at Rs 40-42 per litre.

“The offtake of ‘desi’ cow milk is not as per our expectations. We started with an average retailing of 4,000 litres a day which has come down to 3,000-3,500 litres per day mainly because of low acceptability. To increase affordability, we have already reduced the price to Rs 60 per litre from Rs 70 per litre. Still, the response is not encouraging, so we are planning to hire a consultant to devise the ways to market the product,” said SS Kohli, Chief General Manager, marketing, Haryana Dairy Development Co-operative Federation Ltd.

“There is a low awareness among the masses that we are offering pure ‘desi’ cow milk at Rs 60 per litre while the other players are offering cow milk of Holstein Friesian (HF) and other breeds at Rs 40-Rs 42 per litre,” he said. Vita is procuring around 7,000 litres of ‘desi’ cow milk daily from the cooperative milk societies working at the village level.

The processing plant for ‘desi’ cow milk has been set up at Kurukshetra having a processing capacity of 5,000 litres. Experts said the milk of ‘desi’ cow is more beneficial for human consumption as it contains A2 type protein whereas the cow of foreign breed has A1 (type protein). Overall, Vita procures 4.40 lakh litres of milk per day from various milk societies in the state whereas its retails around 3.50 lakh litres per day.

Compared to Vita, the cow milk of Holstein Friesian (HF) and other breeds launched by Milkfed under ‘Verka’ brand is selling almost three times more.