(Business Line)
The government has decided to establish three new multi-state cooperative societies, one each for ‘animal feed production, disease control and artificial insemination’, ‘developing cow dung management models’ and ‘circular use of dead cattle remains’.
The decision was taken at a meeting convened by Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah and attended by Cooperation Secretary Ashish Bhutani, Animal Husbandry Secretary Alka Upadhyaya among others.
Addressing the meeting, Shah said: “As we move towards White Revolution 2.0, our goal should not only be to expand dairy cooperatives and make them efficient and effective but also to create an ecosystem of dairy that is sustainable and promotes a circular economy. If farmers’ income is to be increased, we must create a network of integrated cooperatives where most of the work is done through mutual cooperation and collaboration among cooperatives.”
He stressed the importance of ensuring that the direct benefits of carbon credits reach farmers through scientific models. He also highlighted the need to strengthen milk unions and cooperative societies and encourage food processing in dairy plants. The efforts will not only increase farmers’ income but also prove to be a significant step toward making the dairy sector more sustainable and environment friendly, the Minister said.
Taking forward the mantra of “Sahkar se Samriddhi”, it was decided to establish three new multi-state cooperative societies for the cooperative dairy sector. The first society will focus on ‘animal feed production, disease control and artificial insemination’, the second will promote ‘developing cow dung management models’ and the third will promote ‘circular use of dead cattle remains’, an official statement said.
The Minister said that dairy cooperative societies are strengthening the rural economy by providing small farmers with stable markets, credit facilities, veterinary services, and breeding support, while also empowering women by increasing their participation.
“We have to travel together from ‘Sustainability to Circularity’ which will be multi-dimensional and the work that the private sector is doing today will be done by the farmers’ own cooperatives. This includes technical services, animal feed, artificial insemination, animal disease control, dung management and activities from collection to processing in dairy and agriculture related sectors,” he said.
Referring to successful cooperative models like Amul, Shah said the government is expanding and strengthening village-level cooperatives by connecting them with other activities, and these efforts will prove helpful in achieving the goal of a developed India.
NDDB has done very important work in the field of sustainability and the biogas and cow dung management program developed by them is being expanded across the country, he noted and added that this needs to be taken further.
Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Meenesh Shah and Chairman of NABARD Shaji KV were among other officials attended the meeting.
