Jagananna Palavelluva reaches Krishna district

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday launched Jagananna Palavelluva- AP Amul Project in Krishna district virtually from his camp office.

This would benefit farmers in 264 villages across the district. The Chief Minister said that earlier there was a buyer's monopoly in the State. The State Government had partnered with Amul to change this situation and give a fillip to empowerment of women self-help groups by encouraging milk cooperatives in the government sector, so that farmers can earn profitable revenue.

At present through this project, milk is being collected from 1,046 villages in Guntur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Prakasam, and West Godavari districts and now milk would be collected from 264 villages in Krishna district.

The Chief Minister stated that Amul is not a company, it is the largest cooperative in the country and globally stands eighth in terms of milk processing.

From last December, in all the five districts, Amul had procured over 168.50 lakh litres of milk and paid a sum of Rs 71 crore to the dairy farmers, who were able to earn up to Rs 15 additionally on each litre than the existing price.

In Krishna district alone, 37,474 farmers have been identified along with 51 milk centres. He said that the farmers are earning Rs 20 more on each litre.

Amul pays Rs 74.78 per litre, while the Krishna Milk Union has been paying only Rs 44.80.

He said that Amul is also sharing profits with the farmers who supply milk for a minimum of 182 days and is providing quality fodder at low prices. He said bulk milk cooling units and automatic milk collection units would also be set up in the next two years.

The Chief Minister stated that many dairy cooperatives have turned into private firms, as those in government have interests in private dairies, they never bothered to develop cooperatives or the welfare of dairy farmers. Because of Amul, all the other dairies are also paying a decent price to the dairy farmers, he added.