New Delhi, April 19 (Representative) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dedicated a new dairy complex and potato processing plant at Diyodar in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, built at a cost of over Rs 600 crores, and he said the initiative will boost rural economy. “Initiatives at Banas Dairy will empower farmers and boost rural economy,” he told a meeting of stakeholders. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the new dairy complex is a greenfield project. It will enable the daily processing of about 30 lakh litres of milk and produce about 80 tonnes of butter, one lakh litres of ice cream, 20 tonnes of condensed milk (khoya) and 6 tonnes of chocolate.
“Here, one can directly feel how the economy of the village and empowerment of mothers and sisters in India can be strengthened and how the cooperative movement can give strength to the self-reliant India campaign,” he said. As an MP from Kashi, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to Banas Dairy and people of Banaskantha for establishing a complex in Varanasi also. The Prime Minister said: “Banas Dairy has also proved that other resources can also be used to increase the income of local farmers.” He said potato, honey and other related products were changing the destiny of the farmers. Modi praised the dairy’s projects in Gobardhan and appreciated the dairy projects for helping in the government’s efforts to create wealth from waste by establishing such plants all over the country. Expressing his pride in the strides made by Gujarat, the Prime Minister mentioned his visit to Vidya Sammeksha Kendra on Monday. The Kendra has become a vibrant hub of 54,000 schools of Gujarat, 4.5 lakh teachers and 1.5 crore students. Dairy today is contributing to the income of the farmers.
Modi said that with a milk production of worth Rs 8.5 lakh crore, dairy is emerging as a bigger medium of farmers income than traditional foodgrains, especially where landholdings are small and conditions are tough. The potato processing plant will produce different types of processed potato products like french fries, potato chips, aloo tikki and patties, many of which will be exported in other countries. The Prime Minister also dedicated the Banas Community Radio Station to the nation. This Community Radio Station has been established to provide farmers key scientific information related to agriculture and animal husbandry. Modi also dedicated an Organic Manure and Biogas plant established at Dama, Gujarat.