Gujarat Co-op setting up milk plant in J&K

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation is setting up a milk processing plant in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The infrastructure required for setting up the milk processing plant has started arriving and the plant will be set up soon by the federation," , Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said at a two-day national-level conference on animal disease, food safety and public health in Srinagar.

This would strengthen the network of dairy co-operatives in the state and farmers would get remunerative prices for milk and milk products, he said.

A team of the federation recently visited the Valley to explore the possibility of reviving milk processing plants on the lines of Amul. The team visited various villages and assessed the quality of the cattle and milk, he said.

There was an assured market for milk within the state and Ladakh could be a major market for butter, where due to high altitude it was the major ingredient of daily diet, he added.

He said other milk products like cheese would also have a good market with over 60 per cent of the Valley's cattle converted into high yielding cross-breed. The white revolution in Kashmir was round the corner, he remarked.

The chief minister said eggs and other poultry products worth crores of rupees were annually imported from the neighbouring states. Given the available market, there was no reason why the state could not strive for self-sufficiency.

Sayeed said there was a need for focused attention on livestock rearing to improve the state's economic profile. Agriculture, including livestock rearing, had to be given priority as development of this sector would change the economic profile of the state, he added.

The mindset of farmers had to be changed so that they adopt the latest methods and technology to improve quality and productivity of their cattle, he added.

Housing: To formulate a long-term housing policy, a national conference on housing is being organised in Jammu in July.

The meet was aimed at seeking expert opinion for formulating a housing policy to overcome the growing housing needs and to ensure better land use for introducing cluster houses to sustain ecological balance, Tourism Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir said.

He also said an international conference on lakes and water bodies would be held in September, which would help in garnering international level opinion for preservation of the famous Dal Lake and other water bodies in the state.

The conference is expected to be attended by around 100 delegates from across the world besides national level experts affiliated with national lakes conservation plan.