Milk union to help farmers increase production, ensure quality

The Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Union will distribute ₹3 crore as grant to farmers and ₹5 crore as interest-free loan over a period of three years to help farmers address issues ranging from increased dairy production to storage and quality assurance.

The regional milk cooperative has received money for the project from the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) after the former was selected as a ‘Promising Milk Union’ last year.

M.T. Jayan, chairman of the regional union, said dairy farmers under primary societies, who had sold at least seven litres of milk a day to the union during the calendar year 2022 and those under cooperatives that launched operations over the past two years and sold milk to the regional cooperative will be among those who will benefit from the offer. These groups of farmers will be given subsidised steel milk cans of 10-litre capacity. A total of 20,000 milk cans would be distributed, he added.

The Ernakulam regional milk cooperative comprises the districts of Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam, and Thrissur. There are a total of 3.5 lakh registered farmers in the districts. The region now accounts for around 4.25 lakh litres of milk sale a day, while the procurement level is around 3.40 lakh litres. Local milk procurement has gone up by around 10,000 litres a day, said Mr. Jayan.

Meanwhile, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve has called for the launch of milk-based value-added products at the panchayat level. He said the Industries department would help support units producing such products. He was inaugurating the ‘Ksheera Gramam’ programme of the Department of Dairy Development in Alangad block panchayat.

The programme is now being implemented in the Alangad and Karumalloor panchayats. As many as 89 farmers benefit from the programme, which was drawn up with the support of milk cooperatives from Koduvazhanga, Kongorpilly, and Thiruvaloor. A total of ₹50 lakh has been sanctioned for the programme.