GCMMF to expand milk cooperatives in India

Indian Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the marketer of the Amul brand of milk and dairy products, has announced the creation of farmer cooperatives in several Indian states as part of its strategy to boost milk volume by 20%.

The district unions of the dairy cooperative are set to register village cooperative societies in West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the Economic Times reported.

According to GCMMF, this expansion will help farmers IN other states receive higher prices for their milk, compared with what they get paid by private companies.

Sales of liquid milk represent almost 20% of GCMMF’s Rs100bn ($1.86bn) turnover.

GCMMF managing director RS Sodhi said that, out of the daily procurement of 125 lakh litres of milk from its 15 district unions, only 12-15 lakh litres are sourced from outside Gujarat, although this figure is now steadily growing.

GCMMF district union Kaira Union currently sources 2 lakh litres of milk from West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar, Valsad Union procures 2.5 lakh litres from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh; Sabarkantha Union collects 1.5-2 lakh litres milk from Rajasthan; and Surat Union gathers 50,000L milk from Maharashtra.

In a similar move, Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of Delhi, is also planning to increase milk procurement from northern states of India.

According to the company, it currently procures about 35 lakh litres of milk a day, almost 70% of which is sourced from the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

To meet the requirement of Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), the company is also procuring milk from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

A Mother Dairy spokesperson said that efforts are being made to further increase milk procurement from northern states to reduce transportation costs, which can be passed onto farmers in the form of higher prices.

Caption: GCMMF is set to register village cooperative societies in West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan in order to boost milk production by 20%. (Image courtesy of Balajijagadesh.)