The Maharashtra Government has invited Amul dairy to set up its operations in Vidarbha and Marathwada region of the State. It wants to enhance the milk collection in these regions from nine to 40 lakh litres a day.
Both the regions are drought-prone and farmers are perpetually under debt due to the agro-climatic conditions.
The State Government believes that rearing of animals and milk production will significantly add to the income of the farmers.
All help
Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of India, has already decided to take over the operation of Government dairy at Nagpur. On Thursday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told media persons while inaugurating a new dairy of Amul at Virar, near Mumbai, that the dairy cooperative would be given all the infrastructure support and land for building new dairies in regions.
He pointed that milk cooperative societies in Maharashtra should learn from the professional management of Amul and develop its own brand. Amul Dairy Managing Director Rahul Kumar said that it is considering making additional investments in Maharashtra.
It has an advantage in the State because of the brand and its unique pattern of milk procurement, which is completely controlled by farmers, he said.
Kumar added that the new dairy at Virar will significantly increase milk procurement around Mumbai region.
The plant, spread over 11.5 acres, has robotic systems for milk packaging. “Today, it has a capacity of six lakh litres, which would be gradually ramped up to 10 lakh litres a day. The plant will also have an ice cream making unit of 2 lakh litres a day,” he said.
Investment
Amul has already invested Rs 180 crore for the Virar dairy with milk procurement from local villages.
For additional milk supply, it plans to give incentives to local farmers to rear more cows and buffaloes, Kumar said.
On the issue of rising prices of Amul milk in Maharashtra, Kumar explained that in the last one year there has been continuous increase in cattle feed prices along with other overheads, which has forced Amul to increase the prices for the consumers.