'Mini dairies' to spread white revolution in UP

There is proposal to set up 150 mini dairies spread over all 75 districts in state

To boost dairy sector, the Uttar Pradesh government has drafted a blueprint for setting up ‘mini dairies’ across the state with interest subsidy.

There is a proposal to set up 150 mini dairies spread over all the 75 districts in the state. Each dairy unit to be set up by individual entrepreneurs would comprise 50 cattle heads.

The government would provide interest subsidy to these units on 75% of the bank credit secured through public sector commercial banks. State animal husbandry minister Raj Kishore Singh has directed officials to encourage entrepreneurs set up such mini dairies in UP.

A typical unit would require investment of about Rs 52 lakh, of which 25% of margin money would be incurred by the entrepreneur. The rest could be secured through loans repayable in the next 5 years.

The dairy owner would be mandated to get animal insurance and only rear cattle of single breed.

The state accounts for the largest share of about 18% of the total milk production in India and also has the largest cattle population.

The major towns in UP alone consume almost 7.5 million litres of milk/day, of which Lucknow consumes nearly a million litres of liquid milk/day.

Currently, India is amongst the largest milk producers in the world. The country’s annual milk production is pegged at 128 million tonnes, of which 66% is consumed in liquid milk form and the rest in value added forms such as curd.

The nodal agency of dairy development in UP is Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation (PCDF), which was established for multiple objectives of increasing milk production, processing/marketing of milk/dairy products and development of infrastructure to promote dairy industry.

Dairy is one of the priority sectors for the state government to increase rural income.