Aavin’s dairy milk procurement, which dropped to less than 27 lakh litres a day in February, has rebounded to 31.6 lakh litres since the first week of June. During April and May, procurement fell sharply by 5 lakh litres a day due to the heat wave.
Despite demands from dairy farmers for higher milk procurement prices, Aavin has managed to increase procurement to 31.6 lakh litres per day across its 27 district milk unions through concerted efforts. The efforts included, the provision of 85% subsidy on insurance premiums for cattle owned by members of its primary milk producers union. Furthermore, Aavin has increased subsidies on cattle feed and mineral mixture sales to dairy farmers, aiming to reduce milk production costs.
“The decision to introduce a Rs 3 incentive for milk with higher fat content has significantly boosted procurement. Since December 18 last year, Rs 108.3 crore has been distributed towards incentives for farmers in addition to procurement price,” stated the release.
During the fiscal 2022-23, the Erode cattle feed manufacturing factory was upgraded, doubling its production capacity from 150 to 300 tonnes. Simultaneously, Aavin constructed a storage facility with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes at the same plant. Additionally, the state-owned dairy federation has established a storage warehouse with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes for milk powder at the Tiruvannamalai plant to prevent spoilage.
Aavin’s dairy farmers currently produce 35.6 lakh litres a day, of which about 4 lakh litres are consumed locally by the producers themselves, while the remaining are procured by Aavin.
To further expand its milk handling capacity, Aavin plans to establish new dairy plants in Acharapakkam (Kancheepuram – Tiruvallur), Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, and Karur.
An official statement said works are underway for these new facilities. “Additionally, to maintain the cold chain for milk, four chilling centres with capacities of 2,000 and 143 centres with capacities of 5,000 have been established at a total cost of Rs 21.75 crore,” it added.
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