India to set up 2 lakh dairies to be bumper milk exporter: Amit Shah

Mandya, Dec 30 (Representative) Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said India will emerge as a big exporter in the milk sector by establishing two lakh primary dairies at village level in three years. “Two lakh primary dairies will be established at the village level across the country in three years, through which India will emerge as a big exporter in the milk sector by connecting the farmers of the country with the White Revolution,” he said after inaugurating Mega Dairy here. Shah said the mega dairy costing Rs 260 crore would process 10 lakh liters of milk per day and the will have the capacity to increase it upto 14 lakh liters per day. He said when 10 lakh liters of milk is processed, prosperity reaches the homes of lakhs of farmers. Shah said in Karnataka, the cooperative dairy is working very well.

“Today, there are 15,210 village level cooperative dairies in Karnataka, in which about 26.22 lakh farmers deliver their milk daily and through 16 district level dairies, Rs 28 crore is deposited into the accounts of 26 lakh farmers every day,” he said. Shah said he would like to assure farmers of Karnataka that Amul and Nandini will work together towards establishing primary dairies in every village of the state, and in the next three years there will not be a single village where primary dairy has not been established. He said the government has decided that the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Ministry of Cooperation will establish a primary dairy in every panchayat of the country in the next three years and a complete action plan has been prepared in this regard.

Shah said Karnataka Milk Federation will be provided with technical support, cooperative sector support and overall functioning support from Amul and all its requirements will be addressed by the Ministry of Cooperation. He said that Gujarat and Karnataka together can work for the welfare of the milk producing farmers of the whole country.Shah said the Bommai government is crediting Rs 1,250 crore annually through DBT to the accounts of milk producing farmers and also to remove malnutrition among children through the Ksheer Bhagya scheme, milk is being provided to 65 lakh children in 51,000 government schools and 39 lakh children in 64,000 Anganwadis.Shah said around 66,000 kg milk used to be processed daily in Karnataka in 1975 while today over 82 lakh kg milk is processed daily and 80 percent of the total turnover goes to the farmers. The Union Minister said the White Revolution in Gujarat has changed the fortunes of the farmers and through Amul, 60,000 crore rupees is deposited into the bank accounts of about 36 lakh women annually