Amul To Strengthen Milk Cooperatives, Empower Women In AP

AMARAVATI, Dec 4: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has stated that the AP-Amul project was brought to strengthen the dairy cooperatives by providing better remunerative price to the dairy farmers and empowering women while TDP had destroyed cooperatives to promote private dairies. 
Concluding the short discussion on the dairy Industry in the state and partnership with Amul, the Chief Minister said that Amul is the largest cooperative movement, which is being run by farmers alone and doesn’t have any statutory body as owner. All the profits of the firm will be shared back to the farmers, besides paying the highest remunerative price in the market. 

The Chief Minister stated that the project was initiated after witnessing the plight of dairy farmers during 3648 km padayatra, where the dairy farmers expressed that the price of one-litre water bottle and one litre of milk was the same. The scenario of the dairy sector was very pathetic, where a majority of the dairy farmers have left the field and sold their cattle. After partnering with Amul, the dairy farmers have got a ray of hope and repurchased the cattle to have a fresh start.

Going into the details, the Chief Minister clearly explained how the dairy cooperatives were destroyed during the TDP term, just to safeguard the interests of Heritage. Chandrababu Naidu intentionally brought Andhra Pradesh Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act (APMACS) and illegally converted six district milk unions into APMACS and of late district unions Visakha, Guntur, Prakasam were turned into private companies. In addition to these, to safeguard Heritage dairy, Chandrababu Naidu used his office to shutdown Chittoor Dairy in 2003.

The Chief Minister said that the share price of Heritage peaks when TDP is in power and falls whenever they are in opposition. Flouting norms as Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu made an MoU between Heritage, a private dairy and Bank of Baroda, which is a public sector bank, to provide loans to dairy farmers. With such measures, the dairy sector in the State was totally exploited during the TDP ruling leaving no hope for cooperatives, shutting down the Bulk Milk Chilling Units, and limiting the milk procurement to only 800 villages across the State.

In order to change these circumstances and create a competitive market by strengthening cooperatives, the State signed MoU with Amul on July 21 which pays more than the existing price per litre and the profit earned would be distributed among the farmers. Amul is not just the largest dairy in the country but also stands eighth in the International market. Through this project, over 27 lakh women from rural areas will be benefitted, besides supplying quality milk and milk products to the customers.

Minister of Animal Husbandry, Seediri Appalaraju said that through the AP-Amul project, 9899 villages across the State to promote Mahila Dairy Sahakara Sanghalu (DSS) and has decided to support these by establishing BMCUs at a cost of Rs 1672 Crore. In the first phase, milk collection takes off in 400 villages in Prakasam Chittoor and Kadapa districts and within 10 days of milk collection the amount will be directly credited into the farmers’ accounts.

In addition to these, as per the choice given by the Cheyutha beneficiaries, 4.69 lakh women have opted for investing their money in dairy sectors and for them the state government will be providing cattle units in three phases. About 7,000 cattle units were already distributed, followed by one lakh units in February 2021 and 3.9 lakh units between August 2021 to February 2022. 

Drawing a comparison in buying price per litre between private dairies and Amul, he said Amul has agreed to pay Rs 7 more than Dodla dairy per litre and Rs 5 more than Heritage for 6% Fat and 9% SNF quality of milk in Kadapa and Prakasam districts for buffalo Milk. It is  Rs 6.97 more than Sangam and Heritage for 10%Fat and 9% SNF quality of milk and Rs 4.97 more than Jersey dairy in Prakasam district. For cow milk, Amul has agreed to pay Rs 4.88 more per litre than Heritage, Rs 2.80 more than Sangam, and 3.11 more than Jersey for 3.5% Fat and 8.5% SNF quality of milk in Chittoor district.