BHUBANESWAR: Faced with the problem of plenty, the State Government has asked Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (Omfed) to explore the feasibility of online marketing of milk and milk products.
The decision to go for online marketing came after Omfed failed to dispose of the surplus milk procured by it from farmers across the State. Increased production of milk has created a glut situation in all the dairies and Omfed is facing constraints in disposal of surplus milk of around 30,000 litres on daily basis.
While Omfed was procuring an average of 4.44 lakh litres of milk per day in 2014-15, milk production has reached a peak of 5.20 lakh litres per day in the current year. The federation is expecting that the daily production of milk may touch six lakh litres per day.
“Since installed capacity of all dairy plants of Omfed is far less than the intake capacity, urgent measures are required to deal with the present glut situation,” official sources said. The issue was discussed at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary GC Pati here recently.
The Chief Secretary advised the agency to develop a market strategy for quick disposal of surplus milk by expanding the area of marketing to district headquarters and adopting a flexible approach in selection of retail outlets.
The Chief Secretary said ‘doorstep marketing’ should be encouraged through various media, highlighting the purity and quality of Omfed milk and milk products.
He further directed the federation authority to collaborate with Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) to sell milk and milk products through the corporation outlets.
Besides, district milk unions should be engaged as distributors for sale of Omfed products in respective districts and target should be fixed for them.
Omfed has been asked to explore possibility of selling surplus milk to outside agencies for conversion to skimmed milk powder and ghee and private dairies of the State.
The Government has also planned some long-term measures including setting up of a five lakh litres per day (LPD) dairy plant in Cuttack, upgradation of capacity of the Bhubaneswar dairy plant from 1.75 lakh LPD to 2.75 lakh, fat handling units at five dairy plants and establishment of a milk powder plant in Balangir district.