9,899 villages in Andhra Pradesh will be brought under milk production: Jagan Mohan Reddy
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday launched the milk collection in Guntur district under AP Amul Project — Pala Velluva — virtually from his camp office at Tadepalli. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the project was started with signing of an MoU between Amul and the state government on July 21 to give a fillip to the empowerment of women self help groups by encouraging the milk cooperatives in the government sector.
The AP Amul Palavelluva project was started on December 2 and milk is being collected in 400 villages in Chittoor, YSR Kadapa and Prakasam districts. “Today, we have started milk collection in 129 villages of Guntur district and another 174 villages in Chittoor district,” he said. The Chief Minister said women in 400 villages are getting Rs 5-7 more than the existing market price and added that milk is being collected in some villages of his own Pulivendula constituency. He said Amul has been paying remunerative prices as it stands eighth in the IFCN rankings and it’s cooperative unit and the stakeholders are dairy farmers. He said Amul, which is a cooperative movement, pays more than the existing price per litre and the profit earned will be distributed among the stakeholders every six months.
Chocolates and ice creams produced by Amul are being exported to foreign countries, he pointed out. He said 41.44 lakh litres of milk was collected from 10,871 women dairy farmers in 400 villages of Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts from December 2 and Rs 18.46 crore has been paid and added that Amul has paid Rs 3.52 crore more than the existing price, benefiting the women dairy farmers. Jagan said to strengthen Amul and benefit women dairy farmers, through AP-Amul project, 9,899 villages across the State will be brought under milk production, where Bulk Milk Cooling Units (BMCU) and Automatic Milk Collection Units (AMCU) will be set up with an expenditure of Rs 4,000 crore.
The Chief Minister said quality feed and fodder will be supplied to dairy farmers through Rytu Bharosa Kendras in the coming days. Reiterating his commitment to women empowerment in the state, he listed various women- oriented welfare schemes and programmes being implemented in the state. With regard to women dairy farmers seeking milch animals, he said it was provided under YSR Cheyutha.
Amul managing director RS Sodhi, who participated in the programme through video link, thanked the Chief Minister for making Amul a partner in empowering women in Andhra Pradesh and for the development of dairy farmers. He reiterated that 36 lakh women dairy farmers are the real owners of Amul. He explained about automatic milking units and said quality of the milk is assessed, thereby determining the remunerative prices. Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Dr Seediri Appalaraju and top officials were present.