Mandya (K'taka), Dec. 30 (PTI): Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Friday said two lakh primary dairies will be set up at village level across the country in three years, which will associate farmers with the white revolution, and make India a big exporter in the milk sector.
He also complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi for creating a separate Ministry of Cooperation and opening up the path of progress for India's farmers.
"Soon after independence Indian farmers had demanded that the Cooperative Ministry should be separate from the Agriculture Ministry, if someone had worked on it then, today the situation of Indian farmers would have been different," Shah said.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a mega dairy at Gejjalagere here, he said, "from this stage I want to tell all those associated with cooperatives across the country that no injustice will happen to them any more, this is the decision of the Government of India."
Shah further said it has been decided to set up a primary dairy in every panchayat of the country, in the next three years, and for this Union Cooperative Ministry has prepared a three-year action plan.
"We will set up 2 lakh primary dairies at village level across the country in three years, through this we will associate farmers across the country with the white revolution, and with this India will become a big exporter in the milk sector," he added.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji- the head of Adichunchanagiri Math, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, state Cooperative Minister S T Somashekar were among others present at the event.
The Mandya District Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited has established a mega dairy unit on its premises in Gejjalagere, Maddur taluk here.
The unit can produce 10 LLPD (lakh litres per day) milk, milk powder and other dairy products. Total cost of the project is INR 260.90 crore.
Noting that the capacity can be further increased to 14 LLPD, Shah said, when such a large quantity of milk gets processed it will bring in happiness to lakhs of farmers and their families.
Karnataka is among the states where cooperative dairy is functioning very well, he said, "there are 15,210 village level cooperative dairies in the state, where 26,22,000 farmers supply milk. Through 16 district level dairies, INR 28 crore is going to the bank accounts of 26 lakh farmers."
Stating that Karnataka from 1975 to 2022 has made good progress in the dairy sector, the Minister said, 66,000 kilos of milk used to get processed in 1975, and now 82 lakh kilos of milk is getting processed every day.
The annual turnover of the milk federation used to be INR 4 crore, now it has increased to INR 25,000 crore, he said, adding that a major share of the turnover is today going into the hands of farmers.
Further suggesting that Amul and Nandini (of KMF) together will work towards ensuring there is a primary dairy in every village of Karnataka, Shah said, in three years there won't be a single village in Karnataka, where there is no primary dairy.
Assuring KMF (Karnataka Milk Federation) all kinds of technical and other support from the Cooperative Ministry, he said, Karnataka and Gujarat together can do wonders for welfare of milk producing farmers.
He also complimented the Bommai government for its support to the dairy sector and farmers associated with it.