Narendra Modi asks Railways to provide containers to transport milk to metros, could bring down cost by one rupee per litre
Ahmedabad, Monday: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today urged the Centre to provide adequate number of railway containers to transport liquid milk from different cooperative dairies in Gujarat to the Metros. It could bring down cost of the milk by one rupee per litre as well as save scarce fuel resources, he said.Talking with farmers in the state during the ongoing Krish Mahotasav through video conferencing, he said Gujarat dairies send 20-lakh litres of milk to Delhi, 8-lakh litres to Mumbai and 5-lakh litres to Kolkata daily, besides milk power to the Armed Forces.
He said that milk production in the state has increased by 68 per cent during the last ten years. The share of cooperative dairies has increased from 46-lakh litres to 100-lakh litres per day, and in value terms from Rs.2,400-crore to Rs.12,250-crore, over the same period.
Mr. Modi said that the number of primary milk cooperative societies in this period has increased from 10,000 to 16,000 membership from 22-lakh to 32-lakh, and the number of women’s milk societies from 800 to 2,250.
He said that gone are the days when the cattle owners used to migrate from the drought-prone regions in the state for greener pasture almost every summer. The government has undertaken a project to grow fodder on 67,000 hectares in the Banni region in Kutch.
Nearly one lakh kits of improved seeds of fodder have been distributed so far to cattle owners during the Krish Mahotsav to upgrade and develop the grassland on a scientific manner around each and every village. Nearly 11-lakh cattle owners in Kathiawar and Kutch region have been brought under cooperative sector in dairy.
The government has spent Rs.185-crore to strengthen the dairy sector, giving equal importance to animal husbandry as well as tree plantation alongside traditional farming, to improve overall economy. The government had set a target of doubling the income of 5-lakh small and marginal cattle owners in tribal regions, but ended up exceeded the target by 1-lakh.
