Tirupati: Amul team's visit brightens hopes of Vijaya Dairy revival

Tirupati: A team of Gujarat-based Anand Milk Cooperative Society (Amul), the behemoth of the dairies in the cooperative sector in the country, on Friday visited the Madanapalli unit of Vijaya Cooperative Dairy, which was recently closed, to explore the possibility of reviving it for the benefit of dairy farmers in the division.

District Collector Dr N Narayana Bharat Gupta, who accompanied the Amul team, explained in detail about the milk production in the division and also the daily collection of milk through Bulk Milk Centres (BMCs) set up for purchase of milk from dairy farmers in the rural areas.

The team, as a follow up to the discussions the Amul management representatives had with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy recently in Amaravati on the development dairy industry and increase of production of dairy products, visiting the Rayalaseema districts including Anantapur, Kadapa and Chittoor districts of Rayalaseema, the Collector said adding that the team will first have internal discussion among themselves based on the findings during their visit of the three districts before submitting a report to state government on the rejuvenation of dairy sector for the benefit of dairy farmers.

The Collector along with Madanapalli sub-collector M Jahnavi explained about the milk production, collection through BMC from the farmers in the rural areas in the division. Joint Collector (Development) Veerabrahmam was also present.

It is needless to say that visit of Amul team brightened the chances of reviving the closed Vijaya dairy unit in Madanapalli to ensure competitive price for the milk supplied by the farmers, who are now at the receiving end after the cooperative milk units were closed due heavy losses, leaving the milk farmer at the mercy of private dairies in Chittoor district.

Hailing the government move to involve Amul for the revival of cooperative dairies for development of dairy sector, a farmer Srinivasulu Reddy said that in the absence of cooperative dairies, the private dairies exploiting dairy farmers offering Rs 23—25 per litre