Bilaspur to set up 101 milk cooperatives

Bilaspur (HP), Jul 30 (PTI) With an aim to boost milk collection and distribution, the Bilaspur district administration will set up milk cooperative societies in as many as 101 gram panchayats across the district.

Deputy Commissioner (DC), Bilaspur, Rahul Kumar, on Wednesday said as per the state government's guidelines, a meeting was recently held to discuss the formation of these societies at the panchayat level.

"The initiative aims to streamline milk collection and storage for local farmers," Kumar said.

He said that officials from various departments attended the meeting, including representatives from Milkfed Mandi, the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), the District Animal Husbandry Department, and the Cooperative Department.

"In the first phase, around 25 panchayats have been identified, where the process of establishing milk cooperative societies is about to complete and the required licenses will be issued shortly" he said.

"A recent survey by the Animal Husbandry Department found that these 101 panchayats collectively produce an average surplus of 200 litres of milk daily. To manage this surplus efficiently, cluster-level milk collection centers will also be established, and milk will be transported from there to chilling points," he said.

"Panchayats producing over 100 litres of surplus milk daily will be prioritized in the second phase," he added.

He further said that exposure visits to leading dairy-producing states like Gujarat are being planned to provide farmers with hands-on training in cooperative models and best practices.