There has been no impact of demonetisation as milk procurement and sale in the market has remained smooth, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF Amul) Managing Director and Director R S Sodhi today said.
"There was no impact of demonetisation on milk procurement and sale," Sodhi told PTI on the sidelines of 66th foundation day celebrations of the National Academy of Indian Railways here.
He said all the 26 lakh milk producers supplying milk to dairy have opened their accounts in the banks in the state and Amul has been paying them through directly in their bank accounts.
"It followed after stressing for the need to go for cashless for the last couple of years and asked all our dairy unions to help farmers in opening bank accounts," he added.
He said the biggest challenge that Amul is facing today is to get Gen-Next (next generation) interested in dairy farming.
"With rising disposable incomes, there is growing demand for milk and milk products. To meet this, we need to expand our network of dairy farmers rapidly. The challenge is to get the next generation of dairy farmers interested in this occupation," he said.
High remunerative milk procurement price has helped Amul to win back their interest in dairy farming.
"We are also helping the next generation to get into commercial and scientific dairy farming. Commercial dairy farms typically have over 30 cows or buffaloes where machines are used for works like milking the animal," he said.
Amul is also providing training to farmers on advanced technology and this has resulted in more than 45,000 dairy farms in Gujarat, he said.
"Making dairy farming more glamorous and vibrant is the only way to keep Gen-Next interested in dairy business." Sodhi pointed out.
Talking about milk prices, Sodhi assured that Amul is not planning to hike prices as of now and has no proposal to do so in near future.
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