In a bid to realise the next phase of growth for the dairy institutions in Assam, the State government has asked the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to run the management of the West Assam Cooperative Milk Union (WAMUL) for five more years. The dairy union has been under NDDB's management control since 2008 after it faced survival crisis.

At a meeting between Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma,and Meenesh Shah, Chairman of NDDB, on Friday, an agreement was signed to formally extend the management of the dairy union by NDDB. “Keeping in view the effect of NDDB’s intervention in restoring/reviving the dairy cooperative institution, the Assam Government has approved another extension of NDDB’s management of WAMUL for a period of five more years,” an official statement said.

CM expresses confidence

Assan Chief Minister has expressed confidence on next growth surge of dairy institutions in Assam and and hoped to adopt innovative ways to develop the dairy infrastructure and enhance productivity of milch animals through sex-sorted semen and embryo transfer technology. “NDDB’s intervention will safeguard interest of Assam’s rural milk producers and bring the much needed transformation of rural households,” the statement said.

Presently, WAMUL procures an average 41,000 kg of milk from 13,916 dairy farmers in the region on a daily basis. Today WAMUL's brand ‘Purabi’ markets around 64,000 litres of milk per day. “Although the market was adversely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, WAMUL still attained a sales turnover of ₹120 crore as on March 31, 2021,” NDDB said in a statement.

Shah assured the necessary support to dairy institutions of Assam so as to enable them to better serve their members. During his visit to Assam, Shah also met Atul Bora, State Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, and discussed about various aspects of dairy development and creating a road map to boost the rural economy, the statement added.

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