In order to promote dairy farming in the state, the Government of Uttar Pradesh and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) have today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to hand over the management of Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (PCDF), Varanasi Milk Union to NDDB. With effect from the signing of the MoU, NDDB will manage the milk union for a period of five years.
Lakshmi Narayan Chaudhari, Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development & Fisheries, Govt of Uttar Pradesh; Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying (AHD), Govt of India; Varsha Joshi, Joint Secretary (C&DD), AHD, Govt of India; Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB; among other senior officials from Government of Uttar Pradesh and NDDB participated in the MoU signing event.
Speaking on the occasion, Chaudhari said that this developmental initiative of NDDB would motivate and involve milk producers and provide them with the required economic resilience. This MoU would provide milk producers of Uttar Pradesh the essential market access, while broadly keeping in view the sustainability and viability of the overall operations. Using biogas to run Varanasi Milk Union’s dairy plant would be a path-breaking innovation. This unique technology-driven initiative will eventually bring in rural prosperity. He appreciated NDDB’s expertise in setting up modern dairy plants across India and making them profitable.
You may also like to read: Sistema.bio invests Rs 20 Cr to accelerate biogas production from animal manure
Speaking on the occasion, Chaturvedi thanked the Uttar Pradesh government for launching this project within a record time. He conveyed that Project Gir had been launched in Uttar Pradesh to increase milk production. Under Rashtriya Gokul Mission, Gir cows will be used to increase productivity through IVF (in vitro fertilisation) technology and soon Varanasi Milk Union plant would be able to process two lakh litres of milk. He further said that Varanasi Milk Union would be the country’s first milk union to have a biogas-based trigeneration plant installed. The plant is expected to suffice the entire energy need of the dairy and contribute significantly towards reducing carbon footprint by reducing the usage of traditional fuels.
Chairman, NDDB assured necessary support to Varanasi Milk Union so as to enable them better serve their members. He said that Dairy Board’s efforts would be to streamline the governance processes, focus on providing remunerative prices to milk producers and ensure that consumers get safe and hygienic liquid milk and milk products.
Joshi said that NDDB’s intervention would bring the much-needed transformation of rural households in Uttar Pradesh.
