AP plans Rs 965-cr fodder development scheme

The Andhra Pradesh government is working on a plan to make villages self-sufficient in fodder by allowing a range of works to be carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

According to minister for animal husbandry and dairy development P Viswarup, the Rs 965-crore plan would include enabling development of fodder nurseries, bund plantation, perennial fodder crops and fodder conservation over the next four years.

He was speaking at a workshop on dairy development in Andhra Pradesh organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) here on Friday.

Three new milk chilling and processing facilities are being planned at Madakashira and Kalyanadurgam in Anantapur district and at Pulkal in Medak district, he said.

The state has 68 bulk cooling units in 1,318 villages at present. The government would invest Rs 723 crore in expanding marketing facilities and cooling units in Tier II and Tier III cities.

The per capita availability of milk in the state rose to 200 gram per day from 105 gram in 1970. The current milk production is at 11.25 million tonnes, and is targeted to touch 15 million tonnes by 2020.

CO-OPS VS PRIVATE
According to National Dairy Development Board executive director NV Belavadi, the total dairy production in India is 310 million kg per day, of which 150 million kg (48 per cent of the total) is consumed within the production area, while the rest is the marketable surplus.

Within the marketable surplus, 110 million kg (67 per cent) is sold in the unorganised sector, while only 52 million kg is marketed by the organised sector. Within the latter, the cooperatives and private sector now have a nearly equal share on a national level, as compared with a major share held by cooperatives till the 1990s.

In Andhra Pradesh, the private sector was larger than cooperatives while the latter have a 90 per cent share in Gujarat and 75-80 per cent share in Karnataka.

According to S Bhale Rao, special chief secretary to the state government, there are several reasons for failure of cooperatives in the state. He suggested that cooperatives should be looked at from the economic and business perspective.

'REDUCE VAT ON DAIRY'
Dairy sector entrepreneurs from Andhra Pradesh today asked the state government to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on dairy products to 4 per cent from the current rate of 14.5 per cent.

Fapcci agriculture committee president K Bhaskar Reddy said the rates in neighbouring states were at 4 per cent and because of the differential rates, dairy products from the state were becoming uncompetitive in other states.