Anand-based Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, popularly known as Amul dairy, is in the process of establishing 1,000 Dairy Demonstration Farms (DDFs) by 2009 –the dairy plans 5,000 DDFs by 2010 from the existing 511—to increase milk procurement.
The project will be carried out with an investment of Rs 450 crore in a phased manner. These DDFs will serve as production hubs for Amul Dairy.
“We are setting up DDFs for milch animals, which can add another 10 lakh litre of milk per day to our kitty over the next two years. In a bid to enhance our milk production, we entered into an agreement with Bank of Baroda just couple of months ago, under which the bank will provide loans to the farmers for establishing captive dairy farms ranging from 5 to 25 high yield cows, cattle housing shed, grass cutter, water sprinkler and water facility. The period of recovery is three years,” said Ramsingh Parmar, chairman, Amul Dairy.
During the year 2004, the union had launched a massive animal induction programme known as DDF project to maximize the use of existing plant capacity. During 2004, first loan of Rs 30 crores was sanctioned by Axis bank to establish 46 DDFs.
The dairy, which currently procures around 10 lakh litre of milk per day, is expecting to cross 17 lakh litre-per-day mark this season. The dairy which has a 20 lakh litre per day processing capacity and is targeting 20 lakh litre per day of milk procurement over the next two years, and around 23-24 lakh litre per day by 2016.
