State government ropes in Amul to help debt-ridden Yavatmal farmers

MUMBAI: To boost supplementary income of debt-ridden farmers in Yavatmal, the Maharashtra government has roped in Guajrat-headquartered dairy major Amul for marketing

MUMBAI: To boost supplementary income of debt-ridden farmers in Yavatmal, the Maharashtra government has roped in Guajrat-headquartered dairy major Amul for marketing and procurement of milk in the district, which is one of the worst affected farmer suicide-prone areas in the Vidarbha region.

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The Yavatmal Cooperative Dairy Union was one of more than 20 district units which are making losses and were in liquidation.

Gujarat-based cooperative dairy unions have already been purchasing milk from Umred and other areas in Yavatmal. Based on the success of the Gujarat unions, Amul, the biggest diary cooperative in the country, had submitted a proposal to use the infrastructure of Yavatmal district cooperative to market milk procured from farmers. The proposal was given in-principle approval in a meeting chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday evening.

“The infrastructure of the district unit, including the residential and official premises and a refrigeration plant will be handed over to Amul.

This will be on an experimental basis and if succeeded, the model will be spread in other districts where local unions have failed to make profits.

Fadnavis said that impeccable credentials of the Amul brand will help farmers from the suicide prone district of Yavaltmal to earn good amount for their produce and supplement their income.

For quite some time, the state government has been promoting the allied activity as an alternative source of income for farmers in Vidarbha. Dairy income will also assist farmers to avoid debt trap caused by crop failure and a slump in market prices.

Since there is no sound cooperative credit network in the region, farmers often end up taking loans from private moneylenders on usurious interests and get stuck in debt trap.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s meeting, Fadnavis also directed the dairy development department to develop state’s own milk brand on the lines of Amul.