Tamil Nadu Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation, popularly known, as “Aavin” was actively pursuing diversification of products, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said here today.
The dairy processing infrastructure of Aavin was strengthened and as a result, the average milk processing capacity increased to 43.36 lakh litres per day in 2017 from 32.57 lakh litres per day in 2011, he said in his budget speech in the assembly.
“The average per day milk procurement also gone up from 21.37 lakh litres in 2011 to 29.64 lakh litres in 2017,” he added.
He said Aavin is actively engaged in diversification of products and was working on value-addition activities.
“To give a greater impetus to the dairy sector, dairy infrastructure will be augmented with loan support of Rs 500 crore from NABARD’s Dairy Development Fund,” he said.
In the budget for 2018-19, Panneerselvam said Rs 130.82 crore has been allocated for dairy sector and Rs 1,227.69 crore for animal husbandry department.
Aavin currently retails milk, skimmed milk powder, ghee, cheese, ice creams, chocolates, sweets among others.