VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Jagananna Palavelluva - AP Amul Project in Anantapur district virtually from his camp office at Tadepalli on Friday. The State government signed two MoUs with Amul for the purchase of milk for Balamrutham and Anganwadi kids.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said Amul, the largest dairy cooperative society, has been procuring milk from farmers at a higher price compared to private dairies, besides paying bonus from its profits for every six months. Amul has already started procuring milk in six districts, including Prakasam, Chittoor, Kadapa, Guntur, West Godavari and Krishna.
Jagan said his government had collaborated with Amul to ensure better price to dairy farmers in the State as he came to know about their problems due lack of remunerative price during his Praja Sankalpa Yatra. The farmers informed him that the price offered by private dairies for one litre of milk was less than the cost of mineral water. Now, Amul is procuring milk from farmers under ‘Jagananna Palavelluva’ in a transparent manner without giving any scope for the involvement of middlemen in the process.
As many as 4,900 Bulk Milk Chilling Units and 11,690 Automatic Milk Collection centres are being set up in villages as part of the project. A receipt will be given to dairy farmers containing details of price and quantity soon after milk is procured from them. The State government has also laid emphasis on preventing any irregularities in procurement of milk from farmers, he explained.
Amul MD RS Sodhi, Kaira Milk Union MD Amit Vyas, Banaskantha Milk Union MD Sangram Chaudhary and Sabarkantha Milk Union MD Anil Bayati participated. Sodhi hailed the Chief Minister for recognising the importance of the dairy sector in strengthening the rural economy.
Reiterating that Amul is a farmers’ cooperative without the involvement of any government or private agency, he said the 75-year-old organisation has partnered with 36 lakh farmers in Gujarat and another 7 lakh farmers outside the State. It is collecting 2.5 crore litres of milk a day in Gujarat and another 50 lakh litres outside the State. In Andhra Pradesh, Amul is procuring about one lakh litres of milk a day. Amul has already set up a milk processing unit at Madanapalle. Two more milk processing units will come up in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam soon, he said.
Amul has been supplying flavoured milk to about 25 lakh children in Anganwadis and schools a day in Gujarat for the past 15 years. Sabarkantha Co-operative Society has set up a plant in AP to supply nutritious food to children, he added. Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Dharmana Krishna Das, Animal Husbandry Minister Seediri Appalaraju, Women and Child Welfare Minister Taneti Vanitha and top officials were present.