Gujarat and Karnataka can transform country’s cooperative dairy sector

Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah on Friday said Gujarat and Karnataka, which are among the leaders in the cooperative dairy sector through ‘Amul’ and ‘Nandini’, can come together for working towards the welfare of the country’s milk producers and thereby helping in introducing ‘white revolution’ across the country.

In this regard, the Cooperation Ministry at the Centre is ready to extend all technical assistance to the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) besides the support from the management of Amul, and cooperatives for the wellbeing and prosperity of the country’s milk cooperatives, he added.

Speaking after inaugurating the mega dairy of Mandya Milk Union at Gejjalagere village in Maddur taluk of Mandya district, Mr. Shah said the Cooperation Ministry has drawn up an ambitious plan for launching a primary dairy in every panchayat in the country in the next three years. The village-level primary dairies will help to drive the ‘white revolution’ and the farmer cooperatives can be part of this revolution, he added.

Like how ‘Amul’ changed the fortunes of the milk cooperatives in Gujarat, a similar effort can be made by ‘Amul’ and ‘Nandini’ for benefitting the country’s milk cooperatives and changing their fortunes as well. As many as 36 lakh milk producers under ‘Amul’ get their money transferred to their accounts under DBT, Mr. Shah explained.

Referring to Ksheera Bhagya in Karnataka’s schools, the Union Minister said 65 lakh children in schools and anganwadi centres have benefitted from the initiative (milk powder is supplied to the schools and anganwadi centers by the respective milk unions).

Mr. Shah observed that farmers had sought the split of the Cooperation Department from the Agriculture Ministry soon after the country attained Independence. But, this did not happen but Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to create a separate ministry for Cooperation. If the decision was taken then, it would have helped farmers in a big way for their development, he said.

The Centre will not allow any injustice done on the cooperatives hereafter, Mr. Shah said, in his inaugural speech.

Expressing happiness that Karnataka was doing well in the cooperative dairy sector, the Minister said 15,210 village-level cooperative societies are functioning with 26.22 lakh milk producers. The producers get their money transferred directly to their accounts.

Explaining that Karnataka dairy sector progressed between 1975 and 2022, Mr. Shah said Karnataka used to process 66 kg of milk in 1975 and now 82 lakh kg of milk is processed daily. The milk federation’s turnover has risen from ₹4 crore in 1975 to ₹25,000 crore in 2022. A farmer cooperative gets ₹80 from an income of ₹100, he stated.

The mega dairy has come up at a cost of ₹260 crore – a sum of ₹188 crore was spent on the plant and machinery and ₹73 crore on the building. It can process 10 lakh litres to 14 lakh litres of milk daily.

Nirmalanandanatha Swami of Adichunchanagiri Mutt, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Union Minister for Coal Pralhad Joshi, Minister for Cooperation S.T. Somashekar, MLAs D.C. Thamanna, C.S. Puttaraju, representatives from Manmul, and others were present. Earlier, Mr. Shah went around the mega dairy plant.