The State has achieved self-sufficiency in milk production, according to Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development K. Raju.
The Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) is procuring 14.2 lakh litres daily as per data available till January for the 2020-21 financial year, the Minister said. Daily sales averaged 13.25 lakh litres. Internal procurement had stood at 12.5 lakh litres in 2019-20 while daily sales averaged 13.37 lakh litres. To fill the demand-supply gap, Kerala was depending on supplies from milk federations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Mr. Raju said.
Milk procurement in the Malabar region had reported 1.26 lakh litres as surplus during the last fiscal. However, the surplus in the region had increased to 2.12 lakh litres, prompting the government to establish a milk powder factory at Moorkanad in Malappuram.
The foundation stone for the factory would be laid on February 9, along with the dedication of the first phase of the Malabar dairy project and the inauguration of a milk condensing plant in Wayanad, the Minister said.
The ₹53.93-crore milk powder factory was part of the development initiatives in the industrially backward Malappuram district. The cost would be shared among the Dairy Development Department (₹15.5 crore), NABARD (₹37.72 crore), and the Malabar Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union (₹5.17 crore).
The milk condensing plant in Wayanad, established at a cost of ₹4.3 crore, has capacity of 3,000 litres per hour. This was also the first condensing plant in the cooperative sector.
Milma chairman P.A. Balan, Malabar Regional Cooperative Milk Producers Union chairman K.S. Mani, and Milma Managing Director Patil Suyog Subhashrao were present.
