Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the Jagananna Palavelluva- AP Amul Project in Anantapur district virtually from his camp office on Friday.
The State Government has signed two MoUs with Amul for the purchase of Milk for Balamrutham and Anganwadi kids, in the presence of the Chief Minister.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said Amul is the largest dairy cooperative society and it has enormous experience in milk processing and added that Amul has been buying milk paying more money than private dairies.
He said dairy farmers are the stakeholders in this society and added that they are manufacturing chocolates from milk and competing with world-class companies.
The Chief Minister said Amul has been paying a decent price to dairy farmers with no scope for cheating, adulteration, and middlemen and added that they have been giving profits as a bonus every six months.
Jagan alleged that some vested interests have destroyed cooperative dairies and many have turned into private firms and added that Amul has already started procuring milk in six districts ( Prakasam, Chittoor, Kadapa, Guntur, West Godavari, and Krishna ) benefitting dairy farmers.
The CM said the other dairies have been paying Rs 5 to Rs 20 per litre more than the existing price as Amul has been paying the remunerative price in the market.
Reddy said the state government has laid special focus to prevent fraud in milk procurement and increased inspection drives and added that 20 cases were registered at various locations. He said the people who were booked are paying Rs 0.45 to Rs 10 less than the prescribed price.
RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul, hailed the Chief Minister for considering the importance of the dairy sector in the State and standing by the farmers and women. Reiterating that Amul is a farmers’ cooperative, without the involvement of any government or any private body.
He said that the 75-year-old organization has been partnered with 36 lakh farmers in Gujarat and another 7 lakh farmers outside the state and collecting 2.5 crore liters of milk daily in Gujarat and another 50 lakh liters outside the state. He said that in Andhra Pradesh alone Amul has been collecting about one lakh litres of milk every day.
Sodhi stressed that adequate facilities need to be provided for milk processing here in AP, where Amul has already set up a processing unit in Madanapalle and soon two other units will start in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. He said that Amul has been supplying fresh flavored milk to about 25 lakh children in Anganwadi and schools every day for the last 15 years in Gujarat besides providing nutritious food to Anganwadi children in Gujarat for the last 4 years. He said that in the same way, Sabarkanta Dairy Co-operative Society has set up a plant in Andhra Pradesh to supply high-quality nutritious food to children. He thanked the Chief Minister for giving him this opportunity.
Minister Seediri Appalaraju said that it was a great pleasure to launch this program and the main intention of this program is to strengthen the cooperatives and empower women in building the rural economy.
Earlier, a large number of dairy farmers especially those in the unorganized sector were cheated by middlemen and brokers. With Amul, women are indeed earning more and standing as support to their families. He stated that the programme will be launched in the remaining districts as well. The Minister added.
