CUTTACK: Dairy development has played a key role in increasing farmers’ income across the State during the last two decades, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.Inaugurating an ultra-modern automated mega milk processing plant set up by Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (OMFED) at Arilo under Baranga block of Cuttack district, he said milk production in the State has tripled from 8.75 lakh metric tonne in the year 2000 to 23.70 lakh tonne in 2020.
The Chief Minister said OMFED has set a target to enhance its milk procurement capacity from 5 lakh litre to 10 lakh litre per day in a bid to support the dairy farmers of the State.He said the State government has funded the dairy processing plant which has a capacity of 5 lakh litre per day at a cost of Rs 263 crore. The modern plant has the capacity to convert 2 lakh litre of milk per day to skimmed milk powder.
The ultra-modern processing plant equipped with world-class machinery will produce high quality milk and other dairy products including curd, butter, buttermilk, lassi, paneer, ghee, cheese and flavoured milk. Around six lakh dairy farmers of the State will benefit through the plant, Naveen said.
He asserted the primary goal of the State government is to increase the income of farmers. “The State government is implementing various schemes to achieve the objective. The government is giving a subsidy of up to Rs 50 lakh to farmers for establishing dairy farms and processing units in the State,” said the Chief Minister while calling upon people to take advantage of the various programmes of the government.
He said the State government had given Rs 6,000 to every dairy farmer during the pandemic to help them tide over the crisis. He called for an increase in milk production and wished everyone’s cooperation in the government’s efforts to bring about a white revolution. The State government had allotted 51 acre of land including 18.7 acres at Arilo and 32.3 acre at Govindpur to OMFED for the milk processing plant. The construction of the automated milk processing plant which was awarded to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was started in November 2018.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 BJP workers including the party’s city unit president Lalatendu Badu were arrested by police for staging demonstrations and trying to show black flag to the Chief Minister at Trisulia Square to protest alleged inaction of the government in the Mamita Meher murder case.