Aavin procures about 1.25 lakh litres, while the rest is procured by private dairy companies.
DHARMAPURI: Value-added dairy products go a long way in improving the livelihood of farmers, especially in Dharmapuri district where the rural economy thrives on milk production.
Realising this, farmers in Dharmapuri have urged Aavin to increase milk procurement by producing branded value-added dairy products like curd, buttermilk, butter, etc in the district itself. Now, no value-added products are made in the district by the state milk cooperative.
Dharmapuri district has over 3.5 lakh cattle and buffaloes. More than 5 lakh litres of milk is produced from these animals daily. Aavin procures about 1.25 lakh litres, while the rest is procured by private dairy companies.
Farmers are extremely dissatisfied with the situation and urged Aavin to take steps to increase procurement. Farmers stated products like curd, buttermilk, paneer, and butter could be produced and sold at affordable prices by Aavin.
This could improve milk procurement by Aavin and in turn improve profits earned by us, farmers said. Speaking on the situation, J Prathapan, District Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Agriculturist Labourers Association said,
“At present, most of the milk produced in Dharmapuri district is used by private dairy companies to produce value-added dairy products. Aavin merely procures only about 1.25 lakh per day, which is a small portion of the total production.
While Aavin offers about Rs 34 to Rs 38 per litre, the private players provide only Rs 30 to Rs 32 per litre. We need to improve procurement and one of the ways that this can be done is to produce value-added products from milk and market these products across the district. Doing this directly boosts farmers’ revenue and improves milk production.”
S Chinnasamy from Indur said, “Aavin has been negligent in the developmental aspects even though dairying is key to the rural economy here. We can manufacture ghee, butter, paneer, curd, buttermilk, and even milk sweets. By creating such products, the amount of milk procured from farmers here will also increase substantially.
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Right now, Aavin products are scarce in the local market, and improving the marketing capabilities is also a must. Farmers trust Aavin and so do the people. Creating such products would be greatly welcomed by the people if sold at affordable prices.”
M Parthasarathy Mariappan, a milk producer near Dharmapuri, said, “ Right now, farmers purchase value-added dairy products from private companies. Milk producers don’t manufacture them because of the tedious process involved. No one churns butter or makes curd at home anymore.
Mostly, whatever we produce is sold to Aavin or other private companies. During summer, even the buttermilk we consume is bought mostly from private companies. Curd and butter that people buy are often those of big companies. If Aavin is able to bring these products here, we would purchase because we are also stakeholders in Aavin. Indirectly our local farmers would benefit more”.
Aavin officials said “The decision is entirely up to the state government
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