Presiding over the review meeting of Animal Husbandry Department here today, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the present State Government is strengthening the rural economy by providing remunerative prices to the milk producers.
He said that Himachal Pradesh is the first State in the country who had introduced minimum support price for milk procurement which is the highest in the country. He said that cow milk is being procured at Rs. 45 per litre while buffalo milk at Rs. 55 per litre from the farmers.
He said that to further bolster the rural economy many initiatives would be introduced in the budget 2025-26. Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the State Government is going to spend Rs. 161.52 crore for establishing six new milk chilling plants and milk processing plants in the State.
He said that the State Government is also setting up a state-of-art fully automated milk processing plant at Dagwar in Kangra district with 1.50 lakh litres milk capacity per day expandable upto 3 lakh litres per day.
He said that this plant would become operational in March, 2026 benefitting the milk producers from Kangra, Una, Hamirpur and other neighbouring districts. He said that till now 10 percent work on this plant has been completed.
He directed to expedite the construction work of all these projects. The Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure quality milk products to the consumers and to conduct a seasonal study on the availability of milk from farmers.
He also asked to adopt high-end technology in its operation to maximize the benefits to the farming community. He said that digitization of milk procurement is about to start in 8-10 societies on pilot basis.
He also directed to focus on individual milk testing, real time data management with web and mobile interface. He also instructed to ensure GPS enabled route tracking and optimization for efficient milk transport.
He said that separate marketing of Himachali dairy products must be ensured to provide better prices to the farmers for the hard work. Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the money for the milk procurement would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries and details regarding collection data, quantity, quality and pricing would be notified through SMS.
He said that digitization would ensure hassle-free and seamless operations of the milk procurement which would also go a long way in maintaining transparency. He also directed the officers to educate milk producers about the animal care and evolve a mechanism to support the farmers.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government is also promoting natural farming in a big way and cattle rearing is instrumental in this farming practices. He said that these two activities are co-related and cattle rearing will also ensure reduction in chemical farming.
Animal Husbandry Minister Prof. Chander Kumar, Secretary Animal Husbandry Ritesh Chauhan, Secretary to the Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Managing Director Milk Fed Vikas Sood and other senior officers of State Government were present in the meeting.