Aavin should open an exclusive State-level marketing unit and it should be allowed to take independent decisions, according to a resolution passed at the State executive committee meeting of Tamil Nadu Milk Producers’ Welfare Association (TNMPWA) held here on Thursday.
The Aavin State Federation and district unions are bereft of effective planning for augmenting sale of milk and this led to the present situation of primary cooperative societies refusing to procure the entire quantity of milk being supplied by its members and even declaring milk holidays. The only way to overcome the crisis was to improve the marketing strategy, according to the association.
K. A. Sengottuvel, TNMPWA president, who presided over the meeting, told reporters that the meeting adopted another resolution which pointed out that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa during the Assembly elections assured augmenting milk procurement by Aavin to one crore litre a day.
ADVERTISEMENT
At present Aavin was procuring only 30 lakh litres of milk per day across the State. There was a spurt in the production of milk due to recent rainfall. But, Aavin societies were refusing to procure additional milk and have been declaring milk holiday for societies once a week. This caused much resentment among the halpless farmers and the Chief Minister should put an end to this, he demanded.
About 60 lakh litres of milk was being marketed every day in Chennai city. Aavin sells 11 lakh litres in Chennai. The rest is by private dairies and milk cooperative societies of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka.
The government should come forward to earmark specific areas in Chennai to the district unions which procured more than two lakh litres per day and accord permission to them to market the milk directly, the association said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The meeting called upon the Milk Commissioner to accord permission to district unions to convert additional milk into milk powder at private dairy factories and also to market them on their own.
“Include it in
noon-meal”
The government has been urged to procure the entire milk supplied by farmers and provide it to children of anganwadis like free eggs at noon meal centres.
Mr. Sengottuvel said the government has been given 15 days to consider the demands of the association.