SHILLONG: Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh has announced a Rs 215-crore project through the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) for Meghalaya Milk Mission for various training under dairy farm, chilling centre and purchase of cattle.
Speaking at the launch of the Milk Mission in Shillong on Saturday, the minister said it would facilitate in achieving the Centre’s goal of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 through promotion of milk business in the state.
The project consists of 2,000 dairy farm units each with a provision for five cows, sheds, storage room, animal insurance, 79 bulk milk coolers of 500 litre capacity and 13 milk tankers of 3,000 litre capacity.
There is also provision for Rs 1 crore for training farmers.
The mission aims at plugging the demand-supply gap in the per capita milk availability, which is much lower than the Indian Council of Medical Research’s recommendation of consumption per person.
The minister said there are cooperatives in only 97 villages out of the 6,449 villages of Meghalaya while there can be cooperative societies in 60 per cent of the total villages. Production is only 5 per cent of the demand.
“Cooperatives can play an important role in the development of this sector. The minister mentioned that the Centre is strengthening the cooperatives of the state, working in different sectors, through NCDC, which will open new dimensions of employment in the state,” said Singh who asserted that 2,000 farmers will be directly benefited by this mission over the next four years.
The minister said the Milk Mission will also check the absence of organised marketing channels in the dairy sector in Meghalaya.
Governor Ganga Prasad said the mission is a comprehensive one, with essential components that cover both induction of new cows and development of indigenous cattle by selective breeding.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the Milk Mission will help in addressing the problem of unemployment in the state to a great extent and that it will facilitate self-employment.
A bull fair was also organised at the venue.
Later, while talking to media persons, Singh said there are over 90,000 dairy cows and 55,000 local breed but the local cattle breeds less than average and the Centre has initiated a scheme to tackle it.
