Pramod Madhwaraj lays Foundation Stone for DK co-op Milk Producers Union new Dairy Building
Udupi: On one hand It is a proud feeling for every citizen since our country ranks first in the production of milk and at the same time the sad part is that our country is also first in exporting beef said Pramod Madhwaraj district minister incharge and also state minister for Sports, youth services and Fisheries.
He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the new dairy building of Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union at Uppoor near Brahmavar here on Sunday, April 16.
Dairying has become an important secondary source of income for Thousands of rural households engaged in agriculture. The success of the dairy industry has resulted from the integrated co-operative system of milk collection, transportation, processing and distribution, conversion of the same to milk powder and products, minimizing seasonal impact on suppliers and buyers, retail distribution of milk and milk products, sharing of profits with the farmers, which are ploughed back to enhance productivity and needs to be emulated by other farm produce/producers.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led congress government is committed for the welfare of Milk producers. The earlier government was giving a subsidy of Rs 2 per liter to the milk producers. After the congress government came to power the subsidy has been increased from Rs 2 to Rs 4 per liter. In the recent budget the government decided to increase the subsidy to Rs 5 in view of the drought conditions in the state. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led congress government is with the farmers. We are ready to respond to the problems of the farmers. The Subsidy amount upto October 2016 has already been credited directly to the producer’s bank account, and the remaining amount will be credited soon he added.
Many Go Rakshaks were speaking about anti-cow and cattle slaughter Bills but they don’t know the reality. Go Rakshak groups have realized that many farmers have small cowsheds which cannot accommodate many cows and calves. After the cows become old and stop giving milk there is no place to keep them in their small cowsheds. Pramod Madhwaraj advised the groups who call themselves Go Rakshaks to start Go Shalas and protect cows.
Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union president Raviraj Hegde in is introductory remarks said that Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union has decided to extend the unit’s structure to the 5.90-acre site at Uppoor. The move is being taken in the backdrop of nonavailability of sufficient space to take up the production of all milk produce in Manipal diary. A huge structure and other facilities to accommodate necessary functions would come up in the Uppur site. The project is taken up at a cost of Rs 92 crore. The work is expected to be completed by December 2018, he said.
The unit in Udupi accumulates nearly 1.87 lakh liters of milk a day with the involvement of more than 326 cooperative milk producers’ union. There is a market for 1.20 lakh liters of milk on an average per day in Udupi.
There are 35,680 active members who are a fraction of the milk producing associations. The unit was set up in 1974, under the title Canara Milk Union by T A Pai, inspired by the Amul founder Dr Varghese Kurian. Initially, 3,000 liters of milk was collected every day. In 1985, it was merged into the Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union. By 1986, the amount of milk collected was 4,458 liters. Currently, the milk processing and packaging is done in Manipal with curds and other products being produced in Mangaluru dairy, he added.
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje, MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary, ZP President Dinakar Babu, vice presdient Sheela K Shetty, TP Presdient Nalini Pradeep Rao, ZP member Janardhan Thonse, Uppoor GP president Arathi, member Mahesh Kotian, Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union managing director Dr B V Sathyanarayana and others were present.
Kaup Divakar Shetty welcomed the gathering, K Jayadevappa and Sudhakar compereed the programme.