Even as the state has been busy fighting militancy over the last decade, a silent revolution has been on in Kashmir’s rural areas. In the last five years, Jammu and Kashmir’s milk production has overtaken the national average. Now, Amul is all set to start operations from two existing milk processing plants on the outskirts of Srinagar and Jammu, breathing life into defunct cooperatives in the state. ‘‘It is a Rs 10-crore project and one of the biggest things to have happened in the Valley in the recent past,’’ says Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. In two months, the company is expected to start churning out butter, packaged milk, curd and ice-cream in the state. With operations in three other states apart from Gujarat, Amul agreed to move into the state as production of milk in Jammu and Kashmir touched an all-time high—from 3.4 metric tonnes per year in the ’80s to 6.84 metric tonnes now. ‘‘This was a result of sustained effort by the Animal Husbandry Department to convert the Kashmiri non-descript breed of cows into breeds like Jersey cows,’’ says Minister for Agriculture A A Zargar. Under the Integrated Dairy Development Scheme—a Central Government scheme—frozen semen technology was used to transform the face of the cattle in Budgam, R S Pura, Pulwama, Shopian and Baramulla. A result of this sustained work on the scheme was a 60 per cent increase in the production of milk. Even militancy didn’t affect this programme much. ‘‘There was a minor setback when militancy was at its peak, but the programme has been on track most of the time,’’ Zargar says. Not just production figures, the consumption of milk is also high in the state—320 ml per day per head as compared to 225 ml for the rest of the country. This makes Amul even happier about its prospects. The thousands of milk producers in the state too are expected to make huge gains. While in the market milk is available at an average rate of Rs 14 a kg, milk producers themselves get paid only Rs 8 as a rule, with the margin being pocketed by middlemen. Now Amul has announced it will buy milk from producers at Rs 13.50 per kg. Amul would also be investing in technical knowhow in the two processing plants where it is starting operations. The state government would pay 50 per cent of the cost. ‘‘It is great news for our thousands of milk producers. Hopefully with this, the face of the rural economy will change for the better,’’ says Zargar.
