The Hindu Business Line : Record milk buys by co-operatives

ORGANISED dairy co-operatives in the country have procured a record average 175.96 lakh kilograms per day (LKPD) of milk from their farmer-members during 2001-02. The total annual procurement of 6.42 million tonnes (mt) works out to roughly eight per cent of the country's milk production.

The National Dairy Development Board's (NDDB) latest annual report for 2001-02 has shown that the average milk procurement by cooperatives has gone up from 97.02 LKPD during 1990-91 to 175.96 LKPD last year, with the average liquid milk marketing volumes correspondingly rising from 80.46 lakh litres per day (LLPD) to 133.92 LLPD.

Thus, the cooperatives have managed to increase their presence in the post-reforms period, despite increased competition from multinationals such as Hindustan Lever, Nestle and Brittania and host of domestic private sector dairies.

``The challenge before NDDB is to support the cooperatives to consolidate this position and enable them expand their business in an increasingly competitive environment'', the annual report has said, adding that to remain the dominant player, the cooperatives ``need to relook at all aspects of their operations'', particularly marketing.

Towards this end, NDDB has sought to forge a distinct umbrella brand identity for cooperatives (the `milk drop' symbol) to differentiate their milk and products from private labels. So far 13 brands representing 41 district unions in 13 States have already adopted this symbol, following their meeting prescribed bacteriological count, cold storage conditions, distribution and retailing and consumer service standards. The `milk drop' symbolises the quality of milk supplied by cooperative dairies ``that is much more than just fat and solids-not-fat'', the report said.

Further, 49 cooperative dairy plants have obtained ISO accreditation. In order to improve milk quality and animal yields, the report has urged the Centre to enact the Infectious Diseases in Animals Act ``at the earliest'', which would make vaccination against important cattle diseases obligatory on the part of farmers.

Of the 175.96 LKPD milk procured during 2001-02, the major share was accounted for by cooperatives in Gujarat (47.03 LKPD), followed by Maharashtra (29.65 LKPD), Karnataka (20.57 LKPD), Tamil Nadu (16.75 LKPD), Rajasthan (11.04 LKPD), Punjab (10.47 LKPD), Andhra Pradesh (10.02 LKPD), Uttar Pradesh (8.38 LKPD) and Kerala (6.97 LKPD).

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