Jharkhand launches incentive for milk producers selling to state-owned dairy

Jharkhand agriculture department is giving ₹1/ litre as incentive to milk producers supplying to Medha Dairy, run by the Jharkhand Milk Federation (JMF). Two and a half crore rupees have already been disbursed under the scheme to incentivise growth in the animal husbandry sector and increase milk supply to current and future dairy plants in the state, officials said.

Medha Dairy has three functional plants in the state that together procure 130,000 litres of milk every day. Three more milk processing plants are set to become operational by the end of this year, resulting in greater demand for milk.

“Around 40,000 milk producers currently registered with the federation will benefit from the scheme. Currently, the federation pays up to ₹34 per litre to the suppliers, depending on their milk quality. The government will now provide Re 1 per litre as incentive. The fund is to be transferred to the federation, which will further transfer it to the beneficiaries,” said Shashi Prakash Jha, director, animal husbandry and dairy development, Jharkhand.

Jha said the scheme was being implemented retrospectively since April this year and incentives will soon be transferred to the beneficiaries. The scheme was announced in the state budget and was launched symbolically by agriculture minister Badal Patralekh, who handed over cheques to a few registered milk producers on Monday.

“Payment against milk is done within a week. We have already transferred ₹2.5 crore to the federation for payment under the scheme for April, May and June. Payment for subsequent months would also be done soon. Initially, ₹4 crore was provided for it in the budget. But we expect the procurement to increase soon, so we will have to increase the budget,” said Jha.

The officer added that there was zero possibility of any pilferage as the incentives will be transferred to bank accounts of milk producers registered with the federation.

“We have their details including bank accounts. We have farmers who are selling as little as five litres of milk everyday and also those who are supplying hundreds of litres daily,” said Jha.