MoU signed in presence of CM Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union minister Parshottam Rupala, Assam minister Atul Bora
Guwahati, January 7, 2022: With the vision of transforming the rural landscape of Assam through dairy farming, Government of Assam and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on January 7 at Srimanta Sankardeva International Auditorium in Guwahati for creation of a joint venture for holistic development of the dairy sector in the state.
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala, along with Shri Atul Bora, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, AHVD and Cooperation, Govt. of Assam, and Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India graced the occasion. The MoU was signed by Shri Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB and Shri Maninder Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Dept. of Cooperation, Govt. of Assam.
The event was also attended by Arunachal Pradesh Hon’ble Minister for Animal Husbandry, Veterinary and Dairying, Shri Tage Taki, Mizoram Hon’ble Minister for Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Dr. K. Beichhua. Many other senior government dignitaries, officials, concerned agencies and dairy farmers were also present at the event.
The ambitious target of this joint venture will be to create milk processing capacities to handle and add value to over 10 lakh litres of milk every day in the state. This will not only help more than 1.75 lakh farmers to alleviate their farm incomes but will also create huge employment at various levels of the milk value chain. The joint venture will be responsible to setup six dairy processing facilities across Assam, wherein milk from more than 4100 Dairy Cooperative Societies shall be processed, packed and marketed.
Furthermore, as part of this dairy development project, more than 15000 high milk-yielding Gir cows will be inducted into Assam to ensure higher returns to the dairy farmers of Assam. The plan also envisages setup of infrastructure for Cattle Feed and Silage manufacturing within Assam.
Government of Assam shall be ensuring financial aid and support to the planned interventions of this joint venture through the concerned departments with the support of Government of India under various schemes of the government. This joint venture will also be guided, mentored & managed by NDDB, wherein NDDB shall also be bringing in tried & tested technological innovations like sex-sorted semen, Ration Balancing Programme, Ethno veterinary medicine, manure management projects etc. to Assam. The joint venture’s operations shall be self-sustainable, wherein the initial infrastructure shall be financially aided and supported under various schemes of the State and Central Governments for development of cooperative dairying.
The new initiatives will lead to higher returns for the local dairy farmers which is a step towards the “Doubling Farmers’ Income” aim envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said: ……………………….
In his speech, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala said:
NDDB has been managing West Assam Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Ltd. since 2008 and at present WAMUL stands as an exemplary model of a successful dairy cooperative. WAMUL as a cooperative organisation has been able to turnaround its operations under the management of NDDB.
WAMUL’s management and success so far also shows the importance of transparency and consistency – be it in milk procurement, direct payment to the bank accounts of producers and establishing and expanding markets. Over the years WAMUL has grown from strength to strength in ensuring a round a year remunerative market to its associated dairy farmers besides providing quality-based value-added products to its esteemed consumers. Due to all these factors, the union is able to achieve sales of around 73,000 litres of packed liquid milk and milk equivalent of products every day under its registered brand name ‘Purabi’.
During this event, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Hon’ble Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Parushottam Rupala also unveiled the foundation stone of Purabi Dairy expansion project under World Bank-funded Assam Agribusiness & Rural Transportation Project (APART). As part of the expansion project, Purabi Dairy’s processing capacity shall be upgraded from the existing 60,000 litres per day to 1.5 lakh litres of milk per day.
The expansion of the plant at Panjabari in Guwahati will enable Purabi Dairy to increase the production capacity of existing line of products as well as introduce new products like indigenous sweets, ice cream, flavoured milk etc.
During the post-lunch session, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala chaired an interactive session with ministers and representatives of various Northeast states, government officials, entrepreneurs and farmers. The session was aimed at creating awareness and apprising about the benefits of the revised and realigned schemes of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt. of India. It highlighted various avenues for providing better livelihood to the farmers and help empower the rural economy & growth of the north east region.
