By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, August 20: Registered in 1976-77 under Operation Flood–II, the West Assam Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited (WAMUL), along with rest of the country, is going to observe the Purabi Milk Day at Srimanta Sankardeva Intertiol Auditorium in Guwahati on August 22.
The objective of observing the Milk Day is to provide a platform for exchanging ideas and sharing experiences between the milk producers across various locations to address the issues and problems arising in their livelihood activities based on dairying and animal husbandry.
Purabi Dairy at present is procuring a daily average quantity of 32,650 kg of milk from 176 village-based functiol milk producer institutions (MPIs) and six dairy cooperative societies in Kamrup, Morigaon, gaon, Barpeta and lbari covering around 4,650 dairy farmers. The Milk Union has created a bulk milk cooling capacity of 11,000 litres for chilling of milk in the villages of Barpeta and Morigaon districts and will soon be installing another bulk milk cooler at a site in gaon district to be handed over by the Directorate of Dairy Development.
The Milk Union has always made it a point to encourage and empower its women dairy farmers by felicitating them during the Milk Day celebrations. This time also it has awarded three of its best women dairy farmers with a prize money of Rs.10,000, Rs.7,000 and Rs.5,000 for the first, second and third respectively. The women dairy farmers to be awarded and felicitated this year are Madhu Devi of Lumding, Radhika Chetri of Chandrapur and Ayecha Bibi of Hajo.
Besides, women dairy farmers, this time the Milk Union has also felicitated two of its best performing village-based mobile AI technicians for their tireless services at the doorsteps of the dairy farmers. As a major part of the event, the union has declared an additiol milk price amount of around Rs.1.50 crore to be distributed among the dairy farmers who poured milk to the union during September 2015 to March 2016. The ceremonial distribution of additiol milk price will be done by Assam Chief Minister to five farmers representing different areas - Rahim Badsha and Bijuli Medhi (Pathsala), Langkeswar Deka (Khetri), Sandip Roy (Lanka) and Hazera Khatun (Bordowa).
At present the Milk Union is selling a daily average quantity of over 50,000 litres of packed liquid milk and milk products in the markets of Guwahati and towns like lbari, Rangia, gaon, Tezpur etc., including various defence establishments. Besides packed liquid milk the Union also sold milk products like paneer, sweet curd, plain curd, cream, flavoured milk and ghee that have gained good popularity among the consumers in the market.
Moreover, the Milk Union conducts training and capacity-building programmes for its milk producers and facilitates supply of cattle fodder, mineral mixture, vaccition, AI services and animal health camps etc. to them. While Assam Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal has agreed to grace the occasion as the chief guest in the function, Assam Minister for Cooperation Himanta Biswa Sarma and Minister Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veteriry Atul Bora have also given their consent to be present on the occasion.