BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was on a visit to New Delhi on Thursday, declared that Karnataka has emerged as the second-largest milk producer in India, after Gujarat.
“The state’s 16 milk unions produce about 1 crore litres of milk daily. Karnataka has started supplying 2.5 lakh litres of milk daily to New Delhi, with plans to increase this to 5 lakh litres in six months. Creating a strong market for milk products is crucial for the growth of the dairy industry and wellbeing of farmers,” he said.
Speaking at the launch of Nandini milk variants, organised by the Karnataka Milk Producers’ Federation (KMF) and Mandya District Cooperative Milk Union, he credited the state’s success to the strong support given to the dairy sector.
“We formed milk producers’ associations to ensure farmers got fair prices and a permanent market for their produce,” he said. He elaborated as the state produces 92-93 lakh litres of milk on a daily basis, out of which 2.5 lakh litres are sent to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Through the Ksheeradhare Scheme, milk is purchased at Rs 32 per litre, with an additional Rs 5 per litre incentive given by the government, he added. “When I became CM, I increased this incentive to Rs 5 per litre, the highest so far. The state spends Rs 5 crore every day on these incentives,” he claimed.