Milk procurement target goes up to 6.93 lakh litres per day

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Ltd has fixed a procurement target of 6.93 lakh litres of milk per day to the Tiruchi District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Tiruchi Aavin.

It is about 20% more than the last year’s target fixed by the State level federation, which controls 27 unions in the State.

The Tiruchi Aavin, which came into being in September 1980, has 55,000 members. It procures milk from the members belonging to 663 milk cooperative societies in Tiruchi, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts. The Tiruchi Aavin is one of the largest unions that procures more than five lakh litres of milk per day.

The procurement of Tiruchi Aavin which hovered around four lakh litres per day five years ago continues to register upward trends due to favourable conditions for raising milch animals. By taking into account its potential to improve procurement, the State federation has fixed a target of procuring 6.93 lakh litres per day.

Though it is termed as tough, the officials hope that it is not impossible to achieve the target.

A senior official of the Tiruchi Aavin told The Hindu that it had registered a maximum procurement of 5.50 lakh litres a few days ago. The average procurement stood at 5.25 lakh litres per day. The prevailing atmosphere was favourable for raising milch animals. There were plenty of green patches in different parts of the Tiruchi, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts due to heavy rains accruing from South West monsoon. There was no dearth of dry fodder in the three districts.

“Though there is plenty of dry and green fodder, the ongoing unseasonal rain has impacted the daily procurement. As per the prevailing trend, we procure about 5.5 lakh litres on dry days. If Tiruchi, Perambalur and Ariyalur districts receive widespread rain, the procurement goes down to 5.2 lakh litres,” the official says.

He said that the Aavin had been distributing mineral mix and cattle feed to the members of various societies in order to improve the health of milch animals which would ultimately increase the milk yield. A decision has been taken to increase the affiliating societies. The officials had been asked to identify farmers so as to form new societies. It would ultimately be helpful to Tiruchi Aavin to achieve the target.