Jagan launches Amul project to strengthen dairy sector

9,899 villages be covered under the project

December 02, 2020 11:45 pm | Updated 11:45 pm IST - VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launching Amul project from his office at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launching Amul project from his office at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday launched AP-Amul project in virtual mode. The project envisages strengthening of the dairy sector, besides economic empowerment of women. In the first phase, 400 villages spread across three districts will benefit from it.

Mr. Jagan said that the government wanted to give a better price to milk cooperatives and generate competition in the market so the private dairies would eventually pay more.

Moved by the plight of the dairy farmers during his padayatra, the Chief Minister decided to mitigate their woes and the government embarked on this project by signing an MoU with Amul on July 21.

Amul is a cooperative movement that pays more than the existing price per litre to the farmer and the profit earned is distributed among the stakeholders periodically. It stands eighth in the IFCN’s global dairy processors ranking.

As part of the AP-Amul project, 9,899 villages across the State would be brought under milk production, where Bulk Milk Chilling Units and Auto Milk Collection Units would be set up at a cost of ₹3,000 crore. The project would empower women from the rural areas by providing them a recurring income resource and a sustainable livelihood.

In the first phase, milk collection would take off in 400 villages in Prakasam, Chittoor and Kadapa districts, and within 10 days of milk collection, the amount would be directly credited into the farmers’ accounts.

In addition to this, based on the choice given by the Cheyutha beneficiaries, 4.69 lakh women had opted for investing their money in the dairy sector. They would be given cattle units in three phases at a cost of ₹6,551 crore.

After the launch, around 7,000 cattle units were distributed and this will be followed by distribution of 1 lakh units in February and 3.6 lakh units in August 2021.

On December 10, the State would distribute 2.49 lakh units of sheep and goats to women who have opted for them.

The State has also signed MoUs with major business houses like ITC, P&G and a few others for sustainable livelihood to Cheyutha and Asara beneficiaries.

The Managing Director of Amul RS Sodhi lauded the Chief Minister for inspiring and motivating them to start this project in Andhra Pradesh. He said Amul was being run by 36 lakh farmers with an aim to reduce the gap between milk procurement cost and supply cost, so both the customers and farmers were benefited.

Drawing a comparison between A.P. and Gujarat, Mr. Sodhi said that the only difference was productivity, where AP stood first in terms of production. He said soon AP would be the second Amul in the country.

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