Milma is looking to boost milk collection in the southern districts by giving a leg-up to affiliated dairy cooperative societies whose procurement volumes are relatively low.
Daily milk procurement in the southern region comprising four districts has increased by 75,000 litres over the past year, but there still persists a demand-supply gap of about one lakh litres which Milma's Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (TRCMPU) hopes to bridge over the next two years.
The TRCMPU, which covers Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, and Alappuzha districts, has earmarked ₹2 crore in its annual Budget passed on Thursday for Unarvu, a project designed to assist affiliated cooperatives whose daily milk procurement is less than 200 litres.
Aid for cooperatives
Through Unarvu, the TRCMPU will provide inputs to cooperatives to streamline their operations as many of the societies lack adequate facilities. Assistance will be provided for procuring testing equipment, cattle, establishing offices and also in the form of training modules for their office-bearers.
As many as 413 of the total 978 cooperative societies stand to benefit from the project, according to TRCMPU officials. TRCMPU managing director D.S. Konda said sustained programmes can help bridge the the demand-supply gap in the region over the next two years. The demand-supply shortfall in the region is presently met from the surplus in the Malabar region.
The daily milk demand in the region is around 5.3 to 5.5 lakh litres, while the daily procurement currently stands at 4.25 lakh litres. ''Milk procurement by TRCMPU has risen by 75,000 litres per day over the past year, which is encouraging. Procurement now stands at around 4.25 lakh litres per day compared to 3.5 lakh litres last year,'' TRCMPU administrative committee convener N. Bhasurangan said.
Why procurement is up
TRCMPU officials attributed the impressive increase in milk procurement over the past year to the fact that many Keralites, especially NRIs who returned home, turned to dairy farming during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TRCMPU had recently announced an incentive of ₹2 on every litre of milk procured from dairy farmers in four southern districts. Out of this amount, ₹1.50 goes to the farmers and 50 paise to the cooperatives.
