Boost in milk improves rural economy,checks migration in Banaskantha

A major reason for this has been the improvement in milk prices and payment being made by the cooperative unions every week,thereby strengthening the liquidity position of the farmers. Milk production in the district has touched 26 lakh litres per day,more than 25 per cent of the total milk production in Gujarat,Bhatol said.

Milk production is Gujarat is growing at a rate of 7.28 per annum against the national average of 4.24 per cent and milk unions are paying farmers anything between Rs 325 and 380 per kg of fat. The respective unions are also advancing facilities like education scholarship to the children of milk producers as also insurance benefits in case of any untoward incident or death of any milk union member,which has acted as major boost to dairy farming in Gujarat.

The contribution of milk production to the state agricultural income can be gauged from the fact that in the last five years,the 13 milk cooperative unions in Gujarat collected an average 90 lakh litres a day. In the last financial year,the dairies reported a collective turnover of Rs 12,000 crores,with Banaskantha alone accounting for Rs 2,000 crore. More than 75 per cent of the total collected turnover was paid to 30 lakh milk producers,the Department said.

According to figures,of the Rs 49,000 crore agricultural production in Gujarat in the last financial year,animal husbandry activity,mainly milk production,accounted for Rs 14,500 crore. State Animal Husbandry Director A J Kachia-Patel said: “Gujarat has created history by recording a 23 per cent increase in buffalo population between 2003 and 2007,and eight per cent increase in cow population.” The last animal census in the state in 2007 recorded over 79 lakh milch cattle,he said. He added: “The increase in the number of milch cattle has seen revival in Bhavnagar,Amreli,Junagadh,Kutch and Surendranagar dairies in the last five years and all of them together account for 14.5 lakh litres of milk collection per day.”

He added that the boost in dairy activity following the supply of Narmada waters and the state government’s efforts through a two-months awareness drive has had a positive impact on the village economy and improved the living standards of farmers. “There are many villages,particularly in Panchmahals and Dahod districts where dairies are exclusively run by women,thus adding to the village economy,” said Kachia-Patel.

According to figures available,about 50 lakh litres of liquid milk was sold in the local markets and supplied in Delhi,Kanpur,Lucknow,Varanasi,Jaipur,Pune,Mumbai and Bhopal,with the rest utilised in producing value-added products like ghee and ice-cream.