Amul expanding milk cooperatives to West Bengal, Bihar, MP, Maharashtra & Rajasthan

Amul is acquiring a national footprint as its dairies are creating farmer cooperatives in West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This allows Amul to increase its total milk volume by 20% and helps farmers in other states receive higher prices. 

Similarly, Mother Dairy is on an expansion mode and planning to increase milk procurement from the northern states. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) MD RS Sodhi said: "Out of the daily procurement of 125 lakh kilolitre of milk by GCMMF's 15 district unions, 12-15 lakh kilolitre comes from outside Gujarat. 

The percentage is increasing." GCMMF currently procures milk from over 14,000 village cooperatives in Gujarat. GCMMF district unions are in process of registering village cooperative societies in other states where local cooperative dairy majors are also present. 

GCMMF is claiming that its presence out of Gujarat will enable farmers of other states to fetch better revenues since private players are still exploiting milk producers. Liquid milk sale accounts for close to 20% in GCMMF's turnover of over Rs 10,000 crore. 

Kaira Union (Amul Dairy), the oldest district union of GCMMF, is procuring 2 lakh kilolitre milk from West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar. Valsad Union procures 2.5 lakh kilolitre from Maharashtra and MP. Mehsana Union procures close to 8 lakh kilolitre milk from Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, and Bihar. 

Banasknatha Union collects up 50,000 kilolitre milk from outside Gujarat, whereas Sabarkantha Union collects 1.5-2 lakh kilolitre milk from Rajasthan. Surat Union procures 50,000 kilolitre milk from Maharashtra. "Kaira Union was the first to commence milk procurement outside its catchment area. 

We are procuring close to 1.5 lakh litre from West Bengal and in the process of registering village societies there," said Kaira Union MD Rahul Kumar. Mother Dairy made its foray into central UP this week by launching its operations in Lucknow and Kanpur. 

"Mother Dairy procures about 35 lakh kg milk per day. Almost 70% is procured from UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and MP. To meet the requirement of Delhi and NCR, milk is also procured from Gujarat, AP and Maharashtra. 

To cut down the transportation cost, efforts are being made to increase milk procurement from northern states further. This will benefit the farmers in the form of higher prices," said a Mother Dairy spokesperson. 




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