Gadkari lays of foundation stone of Mother Dairy’s milk processing plant at Nagpur

Mother Dairy to procure 30 lakh litres of milk each day in a year after their new plant becomes operational

A significant part of the 14th Agrovision was the foundation stone laying ceremony of Mother Dairy’s mega milk processing plant to be set up at the Butibori area of Nagpur in the presence of over 5,000 milk-producing farmers from Vidarbha.

Nitin Gadkari, Chief Patron of Agrovision and Union Minister, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil Maharashtra Minister of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development and Dr Minesh Shah, CMD of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) pressed the button at the Agrovision venue to signify the remote laying of the foundation stone.

Speaking on the occasion Gadkari suggested that like goat farms, cluster farms for cows should be set up with the help of farmers who are already supplying over 100 liters of milk to Mother Dairy each day. Citing the example of the first farmers’ producer company (FPC), Suchara FPC, set up to supply green fodder throughout the year using silage technology, Gadkari opined that more such FPCs should be set up for producing animal feed and green fodder, which is important for more milk production and improving milk quality.

He asked Mother Dairy and NDDB to consider setting up their Dhara brand oil plant also in Vidarbha as rice bran and cotton seed were available as raw materials in the region. He said because of Mother Dairy’s higher procurement rates even other private dairies collecting milk also had to increase their rates and hence the farmers benefitted. He said that he has set up a target for Mother Dairy to procure 30 lakh litres of milk each day in a year after their new plant becomes operational.

Vikhe Patil praised Gadkari for trying to give new energy and direction to the farmers of the Vidarbha region. He said that for the development of farmers of 19 districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada Maharashtra government has launched a Rs 10,000 crore project to provide 12 lakh cows to farmers. He said farmers were connected to Mother Dairy because of its good reputation and the guarantee of prompt payment since prompt payment is an important factor for farmers.

Dr Minesh Shah, NDDB CMD gave the details of the new milk processing plant to be set up in Nagpur. With the setting up of the new plant Mother Dairy will be able to process 6 lakh litres of milk each day and it plans to reach up to 10 lakh litres a day.

He said Mother Dairy is already collecting over 3.5 lakh litres of milk each day from about 30000 farmers from 3000 villages under the Vidarbha Marathwada dairy development project launched in 2016. Since then farmers have been distributed over Rs 2000 crores as price for their milk. At the same time, the dairy was successful in maintaining the quality of milk also. With the new plant, the Mother Dairy will reach to 50000 farmers from 5000 villages.