Inspired by the encouraging results of the experiments in Jhansi and Varanasi, the Uttar Pradesh govt. has officially urged NDDB Dairy Services (NDS), a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to build a network of women owned milk producer companies in the state’s 17 districts.
It bears recalling that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has publicly expressed his appreciation for Balinee Milk Producer Company, Jhansi and Kashee Milk Producer Company, Varanasi for their commendable work in the field of dairy development in the state. He even referred to Balinee as a model organization for women in his remarks at the IDF World Dairy Summit 2022 last year.
Nearly 1.50 lakh women milk farmers are likely to benefit from this initiative named ‘Uttar Pradesh Mahila Samarthya Yojna’, says a press statement issued by the state government. It is worth mentioning that a milk producer company is a Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) embodying principles similar to Cooperatives.
Incidentally, the Uttar Pradesh government had allocated Rs 200 crore for ‘Mahila Samarthya Yojana’ (MSY) in the budget of 2021-22. The project will be anchored by UP State Rural Livelihood Mission and the technical support will be provided by NDS.
Under a collaborative agreement between UPSRLM and NDS, 3 women Milk Producer Companies (MPCs) have been incorporated, namely, Saamarthya Milk Producer Company, Raebareli; Shri Baba Gorakhnath Kripaa Milk Producer Company, Gorakhpur and Srijanee Milk Producer Company, Bareilly.
These will together procure milk from over 2,800 villages of 17 districts enrolling 1.50 lakh women dairy farmers and procuring over 7 lakh litres of milk per day by the fifth year of operations.
Talking about NDDB and NDDB Dairy Services, its chairman Shri Meenesh Shah, said Uttar Pradesh is the second largest milk producing state in the country, however, the state still has a large untapped dairy potential and needs focused interventions in the State through producer owned enterprises.
According to him, such initiatives can help the govt accomplish its vision ‘Making India the Dairy for the World’.
