New Delhi, Aug 19 (PTI) Milk procurement in Gujarat has increased five times to 250 lakh litres per day in 2024-25 from 50 lakh litres daily in 2001-02, Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the minister said there has also been a significant improvement in dairy farmers' incomes and a reduction in post-harvest losses.
That apart, the milk prices paid to the farmers have increased by 140 per cent in the last 15 years (from Rs 400/kg fat to Rs 950/kg fat average milk procurement prices), he said and added that this has helped significantly to enhance the chilling capacity and milk procurement capacity of milk unions.
According to the minister, the implementation of several measures has contributed to increasing milk procurement in Gujarat.
Schemes such as the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD), Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF), and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) have provided assistance for infrastructure modernisation, value-addition facilities, breed improvement, fodder development, and capacity-building, he said.
In the last seven years, under NPDD, Gujarat has received a total grant of Rs 315 crore with a total project outlay of Rs 515 crore, resulting in installation of 2,052 bulk milk coolers, 4,309 automatic milk collection systems, and 1,000 milk adulteration detection machines.
Projects under DIDF and AHIDF include processing plant expansion, UHT lines, and milk powder facilities.
As per the National Cooperative Database (NCD) portal, there are 15,740 functional Dairy Cooperative Societies in Gujarat.
Gujarat has a well-developed dairy cooperative network, led by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) (Amul), comprising 18 district unions and over 36 lakh members.
Presently, Amul procures around 250 lakh litres of milk per day from Gujarat through its cooperative network, making Gujarat one of the leading milk-producing states in the country. PTI LUX LUX
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