Minister for Fisheries and Animal Husbandry for the state of Andhra Pradesh, Sidiri Appala Raju stated that the State government aims to empower women by making them a crucial component of the state's "white revolution" by establishing dairy cooperative societies particularly for them.
“The government has set up 9,899 women cooperative societies at the village level and launched several financial schemes such as YSR Cheyutha and Aasara to provide interest-free loans from the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank (APCOB) through the District Central Cooperative Banks. It is an unprecedented scheme in the State,” Mr. Appala Raju told The Hindu on Tuesday, after reviewing the status of the Jagananna Pala Velluva (AP-Amul Project) in Guntur district.
The milk comes from the Amul Dairy, with whom the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The Amul Dairy will procure, process, and market the milk produce as part of the agreement, and the rate of milk procurement is steadily increasing, according to the Minister.
Mr. Appala Raju stated that the project is the brainchild of Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, and that previous governments' ham-handed approach had resulted in the gradual weakening of dairy cooperative societies, district unions, and State federations, as well as the rapid growth of private diaries.
The district unions have been weakened to the point where private milk dairies have grown, whether it's Visakha Dairy in Visakhapatnam, Vijaya Dairy in Krishna, Sangam Dairy in Guntur, or Heritage in Chittoor.
“The role of unorganised sector in the dairy industry was so much that only 25 % of 400 lakh litres of milk was being procured by the cooperatives in the organised sector, while the rest were being processed by the unorganised sector. We want to revamp the whole system and so brought in revolutionary changes. Milk Collection Centres and Bulk Milk Cooling Units are being set up and the pricing will be remunerative to farmers,” he added.
