Kishan Reddy: Amul Dairy Plant To Bring ‘White Revolution 2.0’ To Telangana

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the state-of-the-art dairy plant, Kishan Reddy said the facility would be completed within 18 months and create employment opportunities for local women and youth, besides providing an additional source of income to farmers.

He said milk procured from farmers in surrounding areas would be processed at the plant into products including milk, curd, buttermilk, lassi, paneer, ice cream and ghee. Value addition would help farmers secure better returns while generating local employment.

Kishan Reddy stressed the need to strengthen dairy cooperatives and reduce the role of middlemen. He called upon farmers and other sections to expand the cooperative sector into a people’s movement in Telangana, saying the state should compete with and surpass states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Citing the Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Sabar Dairy, he said it demonstrated the potential of the cooperative model. The dairy, which began in 1964 with 19 cooperatives and daily milk procurement of 5,100 litres, now processes around 50 lakh litres a day and has about 50,000 milk producers associated with it, he said.

The Union minister said the Centre aimed to establish 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies across the country by 2029, including 1,525 societies in Telangana.

He said public sector banks were providing loans of up to `20 lakh to each women’s group. The loans could be used to purchase cattle and increase milk production, helping develop the dairy sector and strengthen the economic position of women, he said.

“Telangana must play a leading and crucial role in the new White Revolution. Our dairy farmers must become stronger. Our women must achieve greater economic self-reliance. Our villages must become more prosperous,” he said.

Medak district in-charge minister Gaddam Vivek Venkata Swamy said the plant could help supply quality milk to schoolchildren under the state’s breakfast programme. He also urged the Centre to support metro-related programmes and suggested that Chennur be considered for another Amul facility, citing the potential market in surrounding areas and Maharashtra.

IT minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu said dairy industries could strengthen the rural economy and generate jobs for local youth.

Medak MP M. Raghunandan Rao said he had approached Amul representatives in Delhi to bring a dairy industry to the district and improve farmers’ additional income. He said the Toopran facility would help build a stronger dairy ecosystem alongside agriculture in Medak.

Sabar Dairy chairman Shyam Lal G. Patel, Cooperative Commissioner Rahul Raj, district collector Pratima Singh, SP T.V. Srinivasa Rao and other public representatives and officials attended the programme.