The National Peasants' Coalition, an association of dairy farmers, submitted a memorandum to the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development on Saturday, stating that if the government does not clear the outstanding payments of dairy farmers, they will start a protest starting this week.

"We have given the government an ultimatum of 3-4 days to address the payments and other issues affecting dairy farmers. We will hold a meeting on Monday and announce the protest programme," said Ganesh Chandra Timilsina, president of National Peasants' Coalition Nepal.

While submitting a memorandum to the Agriculture Minister Jwala Kumari Sah, she said that the ministry would start addressing the issue from Sunday.

According to the coalition, the state-owned Dairy Development Corporation owes Rs1.83 of dairy farmers as of mid-May, with the total debt, including private dairies, amounting to around Rs6 billion. Also, the government has not yet provided any subsidies to dairy farmers.

The memorandum has been submitted to the government in all seven provinces, so the protest will be started from the local level, Timilsina said. Dairy farmers are waiting for their payments for periods ranging from a month to six months.

National Peasants' Coalition comprises 10 farmers associations, including the Nepal Farmers Federation, All Nepal Peasants' Federation, National Democratic Farmers Association, Janata Samajwadi Farmers Federation, National Farmer Group Federation, among others.

"We have received the memorandum. We are discussing the payment issue of dairy farmers with the Finance Ministry, Industry Ministry and with other stakeholders. We hope to find a way forward soon," said Rajendra Prasad Mishra, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.

In their memorandum, the coalition has asked the government to immediately address 10 issues facing dairy farmers and warned that if these issues are not addressed, they, along with dairy farmers, will start a protest.

The coalition has asked the government to pay the outstanding dues to farmers immediately and ensure that farmers receive their payments within a week of milk sales.

The coalition has also asked the government to buy all the milk produced by farmers and end the milk holiday practice. It has also demanded the reinstatement of production-based milk subsidies from the federal government this year and called for the effective implementation of subsidies provided for agricultural loans and livestock insurance.

The farmers association has also demanded to provide the immediate disbursement of subsidised insurance payments to insured farmers and the implementation of a new subsidised insurance programme.

The farmer association has also called for effective inspections to prevent the import of milk and to halt such imports. The farmers have also demanded timely and fair compensation for farmers whose cattle were affected by lumpy skin disease.

Amar Bahadur Kunwar, president of the Central Dairy Cooperatives Association, said that the association had started a protest programme from June 7 to 18, which includes hanging protest banners at each dairy cooperative and farmers wearing black armbands across the country. "We will padlock the dairy cooperatives on June 19 and announce the second phase of protest." The government is currently silent on the issue, he said.

The cooperatives and dairy firms say unsold dairy products have accumulated for months. "But the dairy industry cannot use this as an excuse to avoid paying the farmers. The government and private dairies should sell the products after purchasing them."

According to the cooperatives association, most of the dairy companies have not paid farmers since December last year.

Despite the summer heat, the demand for dairy products has not improved, resulting in the farmers not being able to receive payments, the dairy corporation said.

On March 4, three private dairy associations—Central Dairy Cooperatives Association, Nepal Dairy Association, and Dairy Industry Association—the state-owned Dairy Development Corporation, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, had signed a trilateral agreement to pay farmers their dues with no single representatives of the farmers during the signing of the agreement.

Under the agreement, farmers who have not received payments since August last year were to receive a payment for six months or until mid-January by April 3.

However, the agreement has not been implemented, and farmers are still waiting for their payments.