Mandya Milk Union Limited (MANMUL) is setting up an automated mega dairy at Gejjalagere, near Maddur, at an outlay of Rs 227.47 crore. It is envisaged that the proposed project will be energy-efficient, requires a limited workforce and would reduce the role of middlemen.
Siddaramaiah, chief minister, Karnataka, laid the foundation stone of the dairy, which will have a processing capacity of 12 lakh litre of milk per day. It will help MANMUL to get sophisticated chilling plants and other advanced infrastructure for preserving, processing and packaging.
The dairy will increase the milk procurement and production capacity in Mandya, a district of the southern state, which has been registering an annual growth of 10 per cent. Expected to be completed in 15 to 20 months, the dairy will also help improve farm incomes.
Specifically, Mandya district procures 8.67 lakh litre of milk per day. The observation is that annually, the production in the district is increasing by about 10 per cent. The present milk processing capacity is 4.5 lakh litre a day. Four and five lakh litres of milk are converted into milk powder and other milk products.
The 30-year-old milk union has 1,174 milk producers’ cooperative societies across the district to collect milk. Its jurisdiction covers seven taluks. There are 96,900 milk producers registered as members with these societies. The Product Dairy, Gejjalagere was managed by Mysore Dairy until 1988, after which it was handed over to Mandya Milk Union.