VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched Jagananna Palavelluva-AP Amul Project in West Godavari district virtually from his camp office on Friday. Addressing women dairy farmers in West Godavari district through videoconference, the Chief Minister said his government is committed to women empowerment and development of dairy in the cooperative sector, as promised during his padayatra.
“I witnessed the difficulties of women dairy farmers during my walkathon. They used to bring me a bottle of milk and explain to me that the cost of one liter milk is Rs 23 where as the cost of one liter of mineral water bottle is more than Rs 23,” he said and added he had promised them to address their woes by reviving cooperative dairy sector in the State.
“We believe that only when agriculture and allied sectors are strengthened and farmers reap benefits, the state will progress and the rural economy will improve. Soon after our government formed, we initiated steps for revival of the cooperative dairy sector and as part of the process, we signed an MoU with AMUL, the largest cooperative firm in the country. We signed an MoU on July 21, 2020 and on December 2, 2020, AP-Amul-Palla Velluva started,” he said.
The project was started in 722 villages in Guntur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts and today, it was extended to 153 villages in West Godavari district.
“Amul is the number one cooperative entity with Rs 50,000 crore annual turnover. It has an international presence and is ranked 8th in the world. What is great about it is that all of its shareholders are women dairy farmers,” he said.
Jagan said that Amul was paying remunerative prices in the market where women in Guntur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts were able to earn Rs 5 to Rs 15 more per litre than the existing price.
Further, the Chief Minister said 52.93 lakh litres of milk was so far collected from 13,739 women dairy farmers in 722 villages of Guntur, Chittoor, Kadapa and Prakasam districts and Rs 24.54 crore was paid to them. Amul had paid Rs 4.06 crore more than the existing price, which is an additional income, he said. In order to ensure all the women are being paid in a transparent manner on the basis of quality check, bulk milk cooling units and automatic milk collection units would be set up in 9,899 villages at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore as part of the project in the next two years, he added.
He blamed private dairies for the woes of the cooperative dairy sector and said the timely help needed for the cooperative dairy sector in the past did not happen. Reiterating that his government is committed to women empowerment, the Chief Minister listed various initiatives such as Amma Vodi, Aasara, Cheyutha, interest free loans, Sampoorna Poshana, house sites pattas and houses, 50 percent reservation for women in works, nominated posts.
Amul MD Sodhi said that the Chief Minister had brought revolutionary changes for the development of villages, especially in the dairy sector. He said that Amul is being operated by the farmers and the profits of the company are being passed on to the farmers.