Mahanand dairy has now reported a daily collection figure of 3-3.5 lakh litres. (Express Photo)
Recent changes in by-laws of co-operative dairies have brought in a new lease of life for the waning Mahanand dairy of Maharashtra. The dairy that had virtually gone dry for want of milk has now reported a daily collection figure of 3-3.5 lakh litres. A venture of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Milk Federation Limited (MSCMFL), Mahanand sits at the top of the chain for cooperative dairies in the state. In structure, Mahanand occupies the same position as Amul in Gujarat or Nandini in Karnataka. But unlike these two brands, Mahanand, despite its modern infrastructure, has failed to be a strong one in Maharashtra.
In fact, the fortunes of the brand has been waning for a few years as its milk collection dipped significantly. Mahanand is supposed to receive milk from the 85 talukas and district-level cooperative unions, which are its members. However, Dilip Shinde, the managing director of Mahanand, admitted that till about recently, the dairy was not receiving much milk from them. “A few months ago, the by-laws of the member dairies were changed and we have mandated that they need to give 5 per cent of the collection to us,” he said.
At present, Mahanand has 85 district and taluka-level unions of which, around 35 were not regularly supplying milk. Shinde said post the change in the by-laws, notices were served to the unions. “At present, we report a collection of around 3.5 lakh liters per day,” he said. Some of the district unions, especially those in Nanded, Parbhani and Osmanabad have stopped functioning due to lack of milk in their areas. Majority of the notices were issued to cooperative dairy unions owned and run by the directors of Mahanand. Directors of state and taluka-level dairies contest elections for the position of directors at the state level federation.
Since 2002-03, private dairies in Maharashtra have started capturing the lion’s share of milk collection in the state. Of the 1.25 crore litres milk collected per day, the cooperative unions handle 40 lakh litres (40 per cent) and the private dairies handle 75 lakh litres a day (60 per cent). Allegations have been leveled at the directors of the erstwhile cooperative dairies for promoting private dairies while purposefully endangering the cooperative unions.
Mahadev Jankar, the State Minister for Dairy Development, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, had talked about a turnaround of both Mahanand and Aarey, the government-owned dairy. The increased milk collection, Shinde said, will be utilised mainly in products like flavoured milk, curd and ghee. “Our sales had gone down but they have stabilised now,” he said.
