'Help achieve self-reliance in milk production'

Energy Minister Shoba Karandlaje appealed to all the one lakh members of Dakshina Kannada Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd (DKMUL) to supply milk to DKMUL and make the coastal district self-reliant in milk production.

Speaking as a guest at the silver jubilee celebrations of DKMUL at its premises in Kulshekar near here on Sunday, she said the union gets only 1,85,000 litres of milk from producers while the remaining requirement of about 1.5 lakh litres of milk is being procured from Hassan, Mandya and Mysore.

Taking a dig at those farmers who switched over to areca plantation from paddy cultivation, she said that human beings can’t survive only on areca, whereas it is not the case with dairying.

Appealing the farmers to think of alternative source of income by way of dairy farming, she said the government pays highest amount of subsidy (Rs 5.50 per litre) to milk producers of coastal districts.

Later speaking to media persons, she appealed the Centre to take steps to implement Stockholm convention recommendation with regard to permanently banning Endosulfan. “There is a need to conduct scientific survey on the ill effects of Endosulfan and provide compensation to the victims jointly by Centre as well as State,” she said.

Sweets online

Speaking after launching a 400-gram curds packet, Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) President G Somshekar Reddy said that the KMF would soon take steps to book Nandini products online. “Customers can book any Nandini product except milk online and it will be delivered to home,” he said and added that the facility may start within two to three months.

Stating that KMF has already sold about 15 tonnes of chocolates in a short span of time after signing an MoU with Campco, he said that he wants to make KMF number 1 in India. At present KMF is in 2nd position in India.

“Plans are also on the anvil to set up a mega dairy in Bangalore at a cost of about Rs 75 to Rs 80 crore within six months,” he said and added that the capacity of the mega dairy would be 10 lakh litres of milk per day.

Sharing experiences of his recent visit to New Zealand, he said that only 5 people manage about 1,000 cows in New Zealand, whereas in India, one person is required to manage one cow. He also assured to regularise the serives of temporary staff at the earliest.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker N Yogish Bhat laid foundation stone for a new production unit of DKMUL to be set up at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

MPs D V Sadananda Gowda, Nalin Kumar Kateel and SCDCC Bank Chairman M N Rajendra Kumar among others were present while DKMUL President Raviraj Hegde presided over the programme.

Foreign breeds attract people

As a part of the silver jubilee celebrations, the DKMUL had also organised a mini-cattle expo in which 6 breeds from India as well as foregin countries were on display. They included HF variety from Holland, Sahiwal from Punjab, Gir from Gujrath, Jersey from Jersey island, Concrage from Gujrath/Rajasthan and local variety. Besides, a variety of cattle feed, fodder, different types of grass, medicine were also on display. A milking machine which can milk two cows at a time too attracted many farmers.

From 60 to 637 co-op societies

Giving a brief history of DKMUL, Managing Director Chandrashekar Nayak said that from 4,412 members in 60 co-op societies in 1988, at present, the DKMUL has 637 co-op societies and 1,05,000 members including 26,362 women members. Out of which, 42,000 members are active and supply 1,83,000 litres of milk everyday.

Similarly, from selling 30,000 litres of milk per day in 1988, the DKMUL has been selling 3.13 lakh litres of milk per day in 2011.

Besides, it sells 36,000 kgs of curds, 2,000 litres of lassi, 1,800 litres of buttermilk, 70 kg peda, 80 kg Mysore pak, 2,000 litres of flavoured milk everyday.

Plans are also on the anvil to increase the capacity of the dairy from the existing 2.5 lakh litre per day to 4.5 lakh litres per day, Nayak informed.