22,000 villages to be covered under milk mission

HYDERABAD: The state government is poised to unveil a State Milk Mission covering 22,000 villages to usher in a white revolution. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who held a review meeting with officials at the Secretariat on Thursday said money was no constraint for grounding the scheme. He wanted officials to address the issue of marketing by meticulous planning.The Milk Mission aims to increase milk production from existing 298 lkah litres per day to 496 lakh litres, a 67 per cent rise.It amounts to additional production of 50 lakh litres per day in the next one year with an annual increase of 20 per cent in sale of pasteurised milk.Officials explained to chief minister that under the scheme they propose to cover 22,000 villages in four phases. In the first phase, the programme will being implemented in 3,766 villages.Bulk of the programme will be implemented through SelfHelp Groups who will establish 15,064 Pala Pragathi Kendrams in the first year and the total financial outlay will be `5,138 crore, of which the state government's contribution would be `491 crore. The plan includes establishment of 385 bulk milk chilling centres/ dairy in the first phase.Provision of livestock vaccine production and disease diagnostic facility will be taken up under componentII. The installed cooling capacity in the state is 65 lakh litres per day.Village Organisations of every gram panchayat will prepare a plan to increase production of milk by 900 litres. Under the plan, farmers will be provided with milch cattle, fodder, a veterinary system and marketing tieup. There will be four PPK centres in each village, which will use the SHG network for promotion of mini dairies. Livestock health and nutritional care will also be made available under the Village Milk Plan.