The State Government has planned to implement cattle fodder development scheme on 1,250 acres in Madurai district and 800 acres in Theni district for providing fodder at subsidised rates to milk producers in the two districts, according to V. Moorthy, Minister for Milk and Dairy Development.
After inspecting the Madurai District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, which sells milk under a common brand name of Aavin, dairy here on Monday, he said that there would be a huge jump in milk production on account of providing fodder with a subsidy of 50 per cent.
Steps were afoot for improving the infrastructure of the dairy here by installing machineries at a cost of Rs. 5.6 crore under the Integrated Cooperative Development Programme of the National Cooperative Development Corporation apart from establishing a new cold storage unit.
Pointing out that Madurai Aavin had earned a profit of Rs. 20 crore last year, the Minister said that 1.13 lakh litres of milk was being procured every day from 17,830 members in 465 associations in Madurai district. Another 73,000 litres of milk was being procured from 14,832 members in 336 associations in Theni.
Of the total amount of 1.86 lakh litres of milk procured daily, 1.55 lakh litres was sold in Madurai. Sales in Theni were 10,000 litres a day. Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa, Collector L. Subramanian and a host of other personalities, including local MLAs, accompanied the Minister.
